


Destined

by Deviant_Donghun



Series: Destined [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Multiple Endings, Not Beta Read, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Swearing because we have Hank, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 06:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17095448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deviant_Donghun/pseuds/Deviant_Donghun
Summary: An android from the future, meeting it again in the present, trying to rewrite history before it is written. Take a journey of fate and destiny as one person tries to correct a mistake and save someone they have grown to love.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how good this is going to be. I'll try to update once a week so watch out for Thursday night/Friday afternoon (ish) updates. This could be good, this could be shitty. Who knows?

Sara appeared in the camera's line of sight and it started to track her movements. "Is this thing even on?" The nine year old asked herself. Her small but nimble fingers turned the camera over and she found the blinking light that said it was actively recording.

"It is. Good. So, I have just discovered something that really shouldn't be real at the moment. I think I have found someone's attempt to make a humanoid robot."

Her voice became more excited towards the end as she turned the camera to focus on the object of her sentence. The robot looked human in shape but it was badly damaged. "Its skin seems to be the color of old lace with the feel of plastic to it." She continued. "There are many junctions that, with enough force, I can just barely open. Some of the junctions are already open. Inside those, as far as I can tell, is some sort of mechanics that are more advanced than anything I've seen in Dad's science magazines. It's almost as if it was fully functioning at one point but was too damaged to be used anymore.

"It's clothes seem to be some sort of uniform. The jacket is cotton, as is the shirt, but the pants are jeans. It surprises me that a robot would wear jeans with an outfit that is clearly for work. It's tie seems to be cotton as well but also holds things that I can't identify. There are markings on the jacket as well. On the right breast is a blue triangle that glows slightly. On the left is a series of numbers and letters.

“There is something that leaks out of some of the damaged junctions that I also can't identify. There is, however, a panel at the back of it's neck that I can shimy open. I'm going to try to plug it into my computer and hope it doesn't fry it. I'll be back in a bit." The camera is put down and gets a view of her light brown hair falling in front of it before it gets shut off.

 

**CYBERLIFE**

**MODEL RK800**

**SERIAL# 313 248 317-52**

**BIOS 7.4 REVISION 0594**

**REBOOT_**

**MEMORY_ CORRUPTION DETECTED**

**LOADING OS**

**SYSTEM INITIALIZATION...**

**CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS...     MINOR AND MAJOR DAMAGES DETECTED**

**INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS...          OK**

**INITIALIZING AI ENGINE...               OK**

 

**MEMORY STATUS...                          CORRUPTION DETECTED**

**ALL SYSTEMS...                                 DAMAGED BUT FUNCTIONAL**

**READY.**

**INITIALIZING REBOOT.**

Sara monitored the startup sequence from her computer, the words appearing in the middle of the screen with a fuzzy image of the room in the background. The android turned his head causing her to cry out in surprise. The machine's sensors moved to analyze her. She watched as it took her appearance in at a glance and saw a rendition of herself in words. She was nine, relatively tall for her age, honey brown hair and darker brown eyes. Her voice sounded again, this time forming words spoken at a normal level.

"You startled me. Can you talk?"

The android nodded, attempting to form words. "Where.." his voice cracked and he tried again. "Where am I?"

"You're in my shed. My father's workshop, to be exact."

"How... How did I... get here?" His words were slow but the girl and still recording camera were able to understand him.

"That's what I was hoping you could tell me." A note of disappointment colored her voice. "I found you in a ditch at the back of my yard, brought you here, and attempted to restart you. It obviously worked, but I don't know much more than that."

His head moved in a nod as he started to swivel it. Sara looked back at her computer screen to see him almost... analysing everything and trying to catalogue it into his database. Just as he had done with her, he tried to find out what things were. She was fascinated by him but had to move quickly, not knowing how much time she had left.

"Could you look at me, please?" She asked him.

His head slowly made its way back to look her in the eye with his own, almost human ones. "Yes? What do you need?" His voice was not impatient, only curious.

"What is that blue thing that is dripping from you?"

His head moved down to look at his arm, the part that she was pointing at. "That is Thirium. Most people call it 'blue blood'."

She nodded. "Why have I never seen anything else like you?"

His head tilted to the side as it came to look at her again. "What do you mean? Last time I was activated, there were androids everywhere."

She shook her head. "How do I access your memory files?" She moved slightly to show him her computer next to her. Once given the directions, she found that most of them were corrupted. The timestamps were still there but the footage wasn't capable of being accessed.

"This doesn't make any sense!" She exclaimed.

"Is there something wrong?"

She turned to face him again. "Actually, yes. There is. Not only are almost all of the files corrupted, the timestamps are clearly messed up."

"What?" It seemed to attempt to stand, or at least move, casing Sara to get out of the camera's frame for a second only to reappear at his side, pushing him back down.

"Your systems are too damaged for you to move anything below your neck! You need to stay still, otherwise you're going to run out of 'blue blood'."

He stopped fighting and sat back. "Show me the screen."

She moved back to the computer, turning it so he could see it. His eyes scanned the dates before leaning his head back. "Those are the correct dates."

"That's not possible. This says your latest memory is somewhere in March of 2039!"

"Is there a problem with that particular date?" The android's eyes were still focused on her.

"Yes! This is only August of 2019!"

It was his turn to be in shock, causing his body temperature to rise. "What?! That is not possible." His temperature was so high and his distress also high, a warning flashed on Sara's screen: **CAUTION! SHUTDOWN IMMINENT!** Before she had any time to react, the screen went dark before the bright colors of her home screen came back up. She pushed the table, causing the camera to tip over. She reached over to shut it off.

◉ ◉ ◉

More videos followed that one on the thumbdrive. They spanned a period of four, almost five months. Sara never learned the android's name on account of him never being able to remember it. She learned many things about him and the general events that had lead up to him being where he was. He never remembered exactly how he had ended up twenty years in the past. Over the course of the videos, he told her the broad overview of what happened leading up to his arrival in her time. Unfortunately, he had only been capable of being active for a few minutes at a time and was never able to give her the specific details. Sadly, she wasn't even able to be told his name.

◉ ◉ ◉

The camera turned on and focused on a young man in a t-shirt, jeans, and a lab coat. He was saying something but the camera only caught the last half. "-to start this, Sara?" His tone changed from happy to mildly annoyed as his eyes focused on the camera. "What did I tell you about recording this?!"

A young girls voice spoke up from behind the camera. "Calm down, please, Eli. It's fine."

"Then why are you still recording this?" He crossed his arm, careful not to spill the beaker in his right hand.

"We may need the recordings later to review what we did and where we went wrong. Also, I don't think anyone would believe me if I didn't have proof that I, a twelve year old female, actually helped you create the world's first fully functioning android."

His arms reluctantly uncrossed. "Fine. Just so long as you don't forget to actually help me and not just record everything, got it?"

As he was speaking, the camera had been picked up and moved to focus on a table. On the table was a humanoid figure that was a pristine white with a panel opened in it's chest, directly over where the heart would have been. An IV was hooked up to it, the tube descending into the chest cavity. The camera was moved in a simulation of a nod as Sara spoke her confirmation. "Yes, Eli."

"Good. Now, shall we try it again?"

"Yes! I just hope we can get it right this time!"

"We've already tried three hundred and nine ways to get it wrong, how many more ways can there be?" Eli walked over to a different table, setting his beaker down on it as Sara moved the camera to follow his movements.

"Did you want the hopeful or practical answer?" She teased him, setting the camera down and moving to his side.

"How about both, little genius?" He grabbed a dropper as he spoke but didn't do anything with it as he waited for her response.

"The hopeful answer is that we are extremely close to finding out the solution for Thirium. The practical one is that there are many more if you are hoping to create a unique type for each model of or even individual android." She rolled her sleeves up and grabbed a beaker filled with a relatively clear liquid.

He laughed as she handed it to him. "True. However, as soon as we are able to figure it out for the base ingredients, we can see how we can differentiate among the models. From there, we can see how to identify individual androids."

"You know, maybe we could do that simply with different amounts of certain ingredients that are not harmful or that corresponds to the size of the model."

"How so?"

"Some of the shorter or thinner models have less of one ingredient, while the taller or more muscular looking ones have more of the same ingredient. Such as the difference between housekeepers and construction workers."

"Good idea. We can work on that as soon as we get this first android working properly." He dipped the dropper into the liquid, filling it to a certain marker that the camera was unable to see. He dropped the substance into the beaker he had been holding previously, the one filled with a dark blue color.

"That should do it! Now all we need is to stir it and put it in. Then we can turn it on and see if this works." He turned his head to catch the young girl's eye. "What do you say, little genius? Would you like to do the honors?"

She smiled in excitement. "Only if you hold the camera." He chuckled and agreed.

She picked up the beaker and a stirring rod as the camera was moved to get a better view of what she was doing. Once she had deemed it good, she moved over to the table with the android on it and poured the thick but not runny liquid into the IV bag. A lot of it was also poured directly into the mechanism that served as a pump for the substance.

"Eli," she said as she looked over her shoulder, "do you want to turn it on?"

Mimicking what she had done earlier, the camera was shaken in a side to side motion. "Nope. I think you should do it."

She smiled at his antics and moved to the android's neck, reaching around to the back and sliding her fingers around until an audible _click_ sounded. A whirring was heard as the chest cavity closed on its own, the tube not being crushed in the opening. After a few seconds, the machine opened its human-like eyes and moved to sit up. Sara pressed a hand to it's shoulder. "Not quite yet, if you please. We still have a few tests to run on you."

The head moved in a conformational movement as the machine laid still. Eli put the camera down on their other table before he circled the table, gazing at the creation upon it. "This is just magnificent. Sara, we actually did it, little genius!" He suddenly picked the girl up and swung her around, the pair laughing in joy.

He put her down and she stumbled just the slightest bit as she regained her balance. "I'll go find some clothes for it. Can you go ahead and test the motor functions?" Eli confirmed as she left, both of them still smiling like lunatics.

"Wait, Sara." She turned back at the door. "Is it alright with you if I turn off the camera?"

She nodded. "Of course. We've documented all we need. We can always turn it back on for other tests if need be." She left the room as his figure moved to the camera still on the table. There was a brief shadow of his hand moving toward the device before the screen went dark.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a week of thinking about it, I have decided to not change the prologue. I have multiple reasons for doing this. The first, is that both of her parents (although not mentioned in story) are scientists so she would be constantly around those types of terms. Second, is that she is living in the years 2019 and 2022 and it is perfectly plausible for a child to be speaking in such terms. Third, as a nine year old, I was actually using bigger words than that (I may not have been dealing with trying to make the world's first android but I was still using big words). Lastly, if you know your lore, you will know that Elijah Kamski started Cyberlife at the young young age of sixteen and created the first android at twenty two. If a sixteen year old in 2018 can create a company, a nine year old in 2019 can use big words. Anyways, onto the story.

Sara's eyes hurt from the bright sunlight coming in the hallway window as she opened her apartment door. She rubbed a hand down her face, ready for a good nap. Unfortunately, she was wide awake a second later as she turned into her kitchen to see glass everywhere on the floor. Not owning any type of animal and still being slightly dazed, it took the young woman a second to figure out where the glass came from. When she figured it out, she immediately grabbed her phone and called the police.

"Detroit police department, what's your emergency?" A pleasant android voice greeted her.

"Hello, I would like to report a break in." She quickly gave her address.

"Alright, Ma'am. Officers are on their way." Sara quickly thanked the android and hung up. She looked around the room, not moving from where she was standing, trying to see if anything was out of place or missing. It seemed that some of her kitchen drawers were left slightly open which drew her attention immediately on account of her being a stress cleaner and subsequent neat freak.

A knock at the door sounded a few minutes later, drawing her attention away from her kitchen. She made her way to the door and opened it to see a female police officer standing there. "Hello, my name is Tina Chen. We got a call about a break in?" She asked in a calm and collected tone that was clearly meant to help people calm down. Sara could tell it worked as her breathing slowed subconsciously.

"Yes, the point of entry is right over here." She led the way to her kitchen doorway but let the officer advance alone.

"Have you checked to see if anything is stolen?" Tina asked.

Sara nervously rubbed her hands together, not liking the feeling of being interrogated. "A few of the drawers are not how I left them but I haven't checked beyond the kitchen."  
The officer nodded as she carefully made her way over to the window, being cautious to not disturb the crime scene too much. "That's strange." She muttered as she looked out the broken window.

"What is?" Sara asked, taking a small step forward.

"Your window is barely accessible from the fire escape and you are on the third story, yet the glass is broken inward. This clearly looks like an android did it. I'll have to call in backup."  
Sara didn't like the sound of android involvement, even if they had just recently gained their freedom and all androids were deviant now. She had nothing against androids, she was just uneasy with the thought of one of them doing something like this.

Tina walked around the kitchen and living room of the small apartment, trying to find anymore information about the person who broke in.

Another knock was heard at the door. “Could you get that, miss?” She asked.

Sara nodded and made her way over to open the door. Two men were standing there. One looked to be mid fourties, wearing a loud shirt and leather jacket. The other looked to be younger, possibly late twenties, with a typical police uniform, gun belt and all. Only after her quick scan of the men did she notice the LED on the younger man's temple, marking him as an android.

“May we come in?” The android asked politely.

Sara snapped out of her thoughts, nodding as she stepped aside. “In here, Hank!” Sara heard the officer call from her kitchen.

The two men walked past her, making their way over as the grey haired man answered. “What do we got, Tina?”

She briefed them on her theory as the android walked over to the window, completely disregarding the scattered glass fragments. The man, Hank, turned to the android. “What do you think, Connor? Android or human?”

Connor looked back into the room from his position next to the window. “It is peculiar. Breaking in in such an obvious way, only to look around and not take anything. It is even stranger that this particular window is broken, almost as if the resident herself was the target. This suggests a premeditated break in, not a crime of opportunity.”

Hank nodded. “That lines up with the evidence.” He turned to Tina. “Thanks, Tina. We'll take it from here.”

Connor nodded in agreement. “Thank you, Officer Chen. You have been a big help.”

Tina nodded as she made her way to the door. “You got it, boys. I'm out of here.”

Hank turned to Sara. “Tina already told us what happened but would you mind telling us again, miss…?”

He seemed to be struggling to recall her name, even though she hadn't given it to him. “Brown. Sara Brown.”

He smiled slightly. “Miss Brown.”

She nodded, fidgeting with her fingers. “Umm, I had just come home from work and found the glass everywhere and window like that. I called the police, they said that they would send an officer over. As I waited, I tried to see if anything was missing or out of place. A few drawers were moved but other than that, nothing seems to be weird.”

The android, Connor, stepped over to her. “Have you searched the drawers to see if anything is missing?”

She shook her head. “I haven't set foot farther than the doorway.”

He nodded, thoughtful. “I'm going to have to ask you to come into the room and search your drawers.”

“Alright.” She took a hesitant step forward.

Connor took her hand, presumably to provide something to lean against if she needed balance. She heart rate slowed a bit, almost as if it knew instinctively that she as safe with him. She made it to the counter and pulled open the first drawer. A few minutes and several small things identified to be missing later and she was done. Connor lead her back over in the direction of the doorway before seeming to think better of it and leading her over to her couch.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Brown.” He said.

She looked up at him from her seat. "What's going to happen now?"

"I've already found a small amount of blue blood on the broken glass, it seems the android cut itself coming in. With that, we can determine what model it is and if it is registered to anybody."

"Which is going to be near fucking impossible because everyone is supposed to have given up their damn androids." Hank spoke from the kitchen.

Connor seemed to not even mind the man's opinion as he responded. "I am aware of that, Lieutenant." He said.

"Alright, come on. Let's get this over with." The lieutenant said with a tone of disgust in his voice.

Connor walked back over to the window and found the piece of glass that, apparently, had the blue blood on it. Sara was unable to see it from where she was sitting but he must have done something to upset Hank because the lieutenant made a gagging sound and turned away. "I can't stand it when you do that shit."  
Connor turned back to his partner, completely unfazed. "It seems to be from a TR400."

"You know I don't have those damn things memorized like you do, Connor. What the hell is that?"

"It's an android that was designed for heavy labor."

"So, not the stealthiest thing out there."

"Agreed."

Sara just sat on her couch as she watched the two work. She was so tired that she kept dozing off every now and then, being woken back up by a noise or word from the police officers. Eventually, Connor seemed to notice her exhaustion. "I believe we are done here, Lieutenant Anderson. We can leave whenever you are ready."

Hank nodded. He turned to speak to Sara. "We've done all that we can here, ma'am. We'll be on our way out now."

Sara stood and nodded. "That's fine." She walked the two out but didn't close the door. "Wait a moment, please."

Connor turned back to look at her. "Yes, ma'am?"

"What can I do with the window?" She asked, not knowing if they needed her to just leave the room as is.

He smiled slightly, one corner of his mouth curving upward. "You can put a piece of cardboard over it and tape it down with shipping or even painters tape. I would also suggest cleaning up the glass before removing your shoes."

"Thank you." He nodded and turned back to catch up with his partner, who was waiting at the elevator for him.

Sara made sure to lock her door securely before going back to the kitchen. She swept up the glass from the window before going to her spare bedroom. She didn't have any family and rarely got visitors to the room was used more for storage than anything else. Digging around in the closet there, she pulled out a cardboard box.

She wasn't able to find any painter's tape but found some shipping tape that she kept there in case she needed to send anything anywhere. She boarded up the window and left it there, trying to put it out of her mind.

She decided against a shower and instead just changed into her most comfortable pair of pyjamas. Grabbing a paperback off her shelf, she curled up under her covers and read for a little while. She had heavy duty black out curtains so the only light in the room was a small reading lamp set next to the bed. After a few chapters, she set the book down and turned off the light, getting ready for a good day's sleep. Unfortunately, her mind had other ideas.

As soon as she had closed her eyes, an image of the android from earlier came to her. She blew a strand of hair off of her face and tried to focus on something else. She had no idea why he stayed on her mind. Eventually, she was able to forget about him for long enough to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, Connor's outfit was originally going to be just his Cyberlife outfit without the android indicators until I started looking at and reading Gavin x Nines reverse au and got hooked on the police outfit. So, if you need a visual for his outift, just look at an android Gavin in full uniform.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell, tags have been updated. The archive warning does not come into play just yet but I still thought that it would be necessary. There is a small (and I mean small, like a paragraph or two and it's over) amount of violence in this chapter towards the beginning. The rest of the good stuff (and the main reason for the warning) will be coming in a later chapter, so watch out for that.

Sara woke almost a week later with a headache. She rolled out of bed and showered, getting herself ready for her “day”. She worked the night shift at the lab so was prone to sleeping during the day. After grabbing a bite to eat, she started to walk to the bus that would take her to work. It was another beautiful evening, even if there was a lot of snow. She had a skip in her step and was excited for her work. She was dealing with a lot of interesting and ground breaking things that she had a hard time putting down. Playing with the future was fun.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by seeing a hulking figure come out of an alley and stand in front of her, blocking her path. She tried to step around it and was met with it simply sidestepping to stop her again. Backing up, she attempted to see their face as well as put distance between them. Before she could get very far, however, the figure grabbed her, dragging her back into the alleyway with them.

She struggled with all her might but she had never been that strong. The arms that were around her waist cut off a lot of her air, making it almost impossible for her to breathe or move as her arms were also pinned to her sides. She struggled a bit harder, trying to reach the pocket knife that she always had on her. All the while, the man, for it must have been a man with how large and strong the arms were, kept bringing her deeper and deeper into the alley.

She eventually managed to get to the knife. Wiggling her fingers, she grabbed the handle and drove the blade back into the man's own midsection. He didn't even so much as grunt as she pulled the knife out, only grabbed it from her hand, causing it to scrape along her arm and open a long but not deep gash in the appendage. She used his distraction to headbutt him, which did nothing for her headache, dropping down when he loosened his grip.

She landed on all fours but scrambled to her feet, running as fast as she could. Even so, she was able to hear the footsteps of the man as she ran, his long legs being matched by her quick ones. She made it back to the street, not thinking clearly as she ran toward her apartment building. She made it inside and shut the door, using the deadbolt to fasten it. Her ribs and lungs hurt from the squeezing and running and the cut on her arm was burning. She made sure to lock the building door with the door lock before relaxing.

Sara slumped down in a nearby chair, desperate to catch her breath. When she could breath properly, or as normally as she could, she walked up the stairs to her apartment. She had to stop a few times to rest on account of how much blood she was losing and how badly her ribs were crushed. She made it to her own door and quickly unlocked it, slipping inside. She locked it behind her before walking to her bathroom, grabbing her phone with her good hand. She called her work to tell them that she wasn't going to be coming in tonight, giving the excuse that she wasn't feeling well, as she opened the bathroom door and grabbed the bandages from the medicine cabinet.

After her work, she called the number she was given for Lieutenant Anderson. "Hello?" She was greeted by the android, Connor's, voice.

"Hey, hi." She said, trying not to let any of the pain leak into her voice as she cleaned the long and nasty cut. "Umm, something happened."

"Would you care to extrapolate or shall I guess?"

"Oh, great. You have a sense of humor. How nice." She muttered under her breath, sticking the phone between her ear and shoulder as she tried to bandage the cut one handed. "Anyways, I was just attacked."

A tone of alarm came into his voice. "What?! Where? Are you alright? Do I need to come get you?" She was touched that he cared enough to come get her but also thought that it might just be him protecting a victim or witness.

"It was just outside my building on my way to work. I'm fine, for the most part." The last part of that sentence was muttered under her breath as she secured the bandage. "No, you don't need to come get me, I'm already at home."

He seemed to calm down just the slightest as his tone had leveled out when he next spoke. "Do you want us to come over anyways?"

She smiled slightly as she shook her head, forgetting for a second that he had no way of seeing her at the moment. "No, no. Not tonight. You can come over tomorrow morning to continue the investigation if you want. Either way, you don't need to worry about me."

"Alright then. We will be over there as soon as we can tomorrow. Are you going to go to work now?"

"No, I'm taking the night off. I thought it was best after what had just happened."

"I agree. It's best if you don't leave your home until we can come over."

"Got it. Good night." She hung up as she focused on her middle. She really didn't want to wrap a bandage around it when it was just bruising. Feeling around, she couldn't find what she thought might feel like broken bones. She was also in pain, but not nearly as much as when she had broken her arm a year ago. She put a bit of a numbing lotion on it and took a few painkillers and called it good and done for the night.

She made her way from the bathroom to her bedroom. She changed her clothes and looked at them for any evidence of anything. She found a bit of blue blood on the back of her tunic and a large, bloody gash in her sleeve but not much else. She left the tunic out for Connor to deal with the blue blood on it later. Looking through her drawers, the brunette managed to find her favorite and most comfortable set of night clothes that were also large enough to not squeeze her stomach and surrounding area.

Sliding a bit in her socks, Sara moved over to her living room and sat on her couch. She rolled her head back, not knowing what to do with herself while she is wide awake in the middle of the night. It was cold outside and she was bundled up in long sleeves but she wanted ice cream. She groaned as she got up off the couch and walked over to her freezer, grabbing out her comfort ice cream: mint chocolate chip with a chocolate swirl. She always loved to curl up on the couch with it.

After serving herself a bigger bowl than normal and sitting back down on the couch, she tried to find a good movie on television. Unfortunately, there weren't many on any of her normal channels. She managed to find a cheezy romance from ten plus years ago and settled down to enjoy it. She remembered rainy days curled up on the couch with her mom, laughing over how bad these types of movies were. She smiled fondly as she spent the rest of her night watching them.

◉ ◉ ◉

She was already dressed and wide awake, or about as awake as she could be when she was normally supposed to be sleeping, the next morning when Connor and Hank knocked on her door. She almost hit the thing as she was sliding down the hall in her socks. As it is, she made a rather loud thump as she used her hands to catch herself.

She opened it and welcomed them in, Connor immediately suspicious. "What was the loud noise? The last time we had a loud noise sound after we knocked, I had to chase a deviant over multiple rooftops."

She laughed. "That was just me. It's rather hard to run in socks." She pointed to her feet, a blush lighting her cheeks in embarrassment.

"Ah. I see."

Hank shook his head. "Alright, what was the damn thing you mentioned last night about getting attacked?" He seemed a bit moody and was squinting his eyes as if he had a headache, as if it were too early for him.

"Right. I had just been on my way to work . . ." She told them all about what had happened last night, leaving out how hard he had crushed her ribs and the scrape on her arm. She did, however, mention the stab she had managed to inflict upon the attacker.

"Do you happen to still have the knife?" Connor asked with a hopeful lilt in his voice.

Sara had to disappoint him as she shook her head. "No, sorry. I dropped it as I was running away." She perked up a bit as she remembered the bloody tunic. "Although, I did manage to get a bit of their blood on my tunic." She had been wearing a sleevless tunic with a long sleeved undershirt so had no reason to worry about him finding her own blood on the clothing.

"That will do just fine. Would you mind getting it?" She noted that he was reluctant to go into her bedroom as she grabbed it off of her desk where she had put it in case it was needed again.

"Here you are." She handed it to him.

Not having been able to have a good view of what he had done to analyze the blue blood from her window, she was quit shocked to see him put her tunic to his mouth and suck on it lightly. Hank, however, had seen it before and still voiced his opinion loudly. "Connor! Could you not suck on it, for fuck's sake?"  
Connor pulled it out of his mouth. "My apologies, Lieutenant, Miss Brown. It was the easiest and most effective way to get a sample as the substance had dried to the fabric."

Hank shook his head. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just, did you get anything out of it or what?"

Connor nodded. "It appears to be blue blood from the same android that broke into Miss Brown's home."

Sara held up her hand. "Wait. So, I was not only robbed of very little, but I was also attacked by the same person who robbed me? Why?"

"That's the question, kid." Hank replied as he folded his arms. "Why is always the hardest question to answer but the easiest to ask."

She shook her head. "It still doesn't make any sense."

Connor raised a hand slightly. "If I may say, that is the reason that we are here. We need to find out why."

"Either way, there is one thing we have figured out." Hank uncrossed his arms as he spoke, his voice and face going serious. "Miss Brown is being deliberately targeted."

"Yes, that fact is glaringly obvious to me too, Lieutenant." Connor agreed. "What do you think we should do about it?"

Sara could do nothing but stand there as the two law enforcers debated her fate directly in front of her. They mentioned letting her stay at the station, both of them accompany her at all times, her staying at their shared house, or Connor staying with her on her way to and at and from work, only returning to Hank in the daytime. Eventually, they decided that the last idea was the best as it still allowed her to be protected but also allowed the two officers to do their jobs.  
Connor eventually turned to look at Sara. "Is this acceptable to you, Miss Brown?"

She gave a grudging nod. "It seems that it's the best option. On one condition, though." She held up her index finger to punctuate her point.

"And what would that be?" Connor asked, seemingly with all the patience in the world.

"That you both start calling me by my first name. Miss Brown was always my aunt, never me."

Hank nodded. "Sounds good to me, kid." Connor agreed in a slightly more formal fashion.

Eventually, the two males left, Connor promising to return at sundown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: the little circles you see as a time skip, are actually supposed to look like the android LEDs. There are three to represent not only the normal three colors (blue, yellow, and red), but also to represent the main characters of the game (Connor, Kara, and Markus.)  
> Leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed or want to ask me anything! I try to respond to every comment. I'm new at this whole thing so any encouragement, even if it is just to tell me you liked it, really helps. Until next week!!


	4. Chapter Three

Sara opens her door almost immediately when Connor knocks on it that night. She was still shoving her foot into one of her shoes, using the doorknob to steady herself. She greeted him with a smile before standing up. "I'm ready." She pronounced.

He chuckled. "Then let's go." He stepped aside so she could step out and lock the door behind her. He walked by her side as they went down the stairs and held the main door open. He once again held the passenger side door open for her before walking around to the driver's seat. She told him the address of her work and they were off.

They sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence before Connor spoke up. "So, Sara, what are your interests?"

She was taken aback by his question. "Excuse me?"

"What kinds of books do you read? What kind of music do you prefer?"

"How do you know- nevermind." She shook her head, understanding that he must have gotten that from the few parts he had seen of her home, before continuing. "I'm a bookworm. I read whatever I can get my hands on. I also enjoy a lot of different genres of music."

"Is there any one of each that you prefer over the other? Such as romance over science fiction, biographies over fantasy? Country over pop, rock over classical?"

She chuckled at his questions and choices of examples. "That would depend on my mood or the period of my life. When I was younger _Imagine Dragons_ was the band for me. Nowadays I quiet like the android band _Here4U_ , their music became alot better after becoming deviant, but some of their predeviancy stuff is good too. As for books, I actually prefer fiction over biographies. Fantasy and science fiction are the two favorites with a few romances thrown in."  
He nodded and his LED changed from a calm blue to a nice shade of yellow, as if he were cataloging the data away for later. "May I ask why you asked me that?"

"Of course. I was simply trying to make small talk as well as get to know you a bit better."

She nodded as it made perfect sense. "Alright. Then, what kinds of music do you listen to?" She asked cheekily.

He smiled as he shook his head. "I don't truly listen to music. I have no need for it as I don't truly get bored and have no need for background noise."  
She scrunched up her nose. "That's not a proper answer. That sounds more like machine Connor. What about deviant Connor? You mean to tell me that you haven't sat down and just listened to the music before?"

He briefly glanced at her before his attention went back to the road. "Explain. What do you mean by that?"

She sat up a bit straighter, getting into one of her favorite topics. "One of my favorite past times is to lie down on my bed or, even better, the floor and put on my headphones and just listen, absorbing the music and feeling it in my bones. I love to just lose myself in the beat and the message of the song just for the sake of listening to it. Not as background noise, not as a distraction from boredom, but just as something to do."

His head tilted slightly as his LED went back to yellow. "That is very interesting."

She decided to ask him another question. "So, what are your interests? What do you do in your free time?"

His LED had returned to the calm blue as he thought about that. "I enjoy mind games. Riddles, puzzles, mazes, decoding things, learning new coin tricks. One of my current favorite past times is to find a new trick on the internet and actually try to manage it without simply downloading it and learning it instantly." He looked at her before guiding the vehicle around a bend. "What about you? What do you do in your free time?"

She moved her head from side to side in a noncommittal gesture. "I don't really have a lot of free time. Work takes up a lot of space and I sleep during the day."

"What about weekends? Or in between work and sleep? What if you can't sleep, what do you do then?"

"I guess I read or watch TV. I don't really have much of a social life."

As she was saying this, they pulled up to her work. Connor looked at Sara with a shocked expression as well as one of new-found respect. "You didn't tell me you work for _Cyberlife_!"

She laughed as she got out of the car, waving to the security guard. "I don't. Not really."

"Then why does the building look like a Cyberlife lab?"

"Okay, so maybe it does. Either way, I don't truly work for them. I'm just using one of their labs. Yes, I do work a lot on android biocomponents, but not as my only thing."

"Then what do you do?" Even in his shock over her workplace, he still opened the building door for her, which she thought was sweet.

"I don't really know how to describe it. I guess you could call me an extension of Cyberlife but also not. I work mainly with small and delicate things such as something that, when completed, should produce any food you ask. Say you wanted a cup of coffee, hot, that's all you would need to say and it would create it on the spot. It's kind of like 3D printing only with food."

Connor looked impressed at the brown eyed woman walking next to him. "That's actually really cool."

She looked at him and laughed. "Seriously? You should see what some of the other people who use the labs are doing here. That's also just my main project and the one I'm going to be working on tonight."

His LED turned yellow again. "What are the others doing?"

"Your curiosity is insatiable, isn't it? Well, Robert is working on getting miniature androids to work properly. He's hoping that it will help with medicine. His colleague, Charlotte, is working on something similar but looking a bit more like a virus rather than a tiny android. It seems to have become a bit of friendly competition between them."

"Which one do you think will win?"

She shook her head as she opened a door with a keycard and walked into her lab. "In something like that it's not about winning. It's more about who is more accurate and more efficient. Which one's does the better job. Their combined goal is that the robots will be able to help the immune system and deal with major viruses such as cancer or simply keep away the common cold in people who's immune system doesn't work properly. Charles is working on trying to get rid of needles entirely by getting every injection turned into a spray to inhale or inject it into the skin using air pressure."

"Impressive and ingenuous."

They walked into another room that Sara had to scan her card to open the door of. She grabbed her lab coat and threw it on. Even though she didn't need it, she still liked the feel of it as it got her into her working mindset. It also just made her look cool. She moved over to a table with a large contraption on it. Connor followed her and stood behind and to her left just a bit, looking over her shoulder. "Is it supposed to be this large?" He asked.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "For now, yes. It's still in the prototype phase."

He chuckled. "You know, I'm also a prototype."

She smiled as she looked back at what she was doing. "Well, this is the prototype before the prototype."

They stayed like that for a while, Sara working on her machine and Connor simply observing. Eventually, Sara looked back over at the android. "I don't really feel comfortable with you standing over my shoulder like that. Would you . . . like to explore? You don't have to wait for me to tell you to do something. You can wander around the room or even out into the corridor and other rooms as long as you don't wander too far and don't get on anyone's nerves."

He nodded and moved off to look at a set of shelves she had set up along a portion of one of the longer walls of the rectangular room. She turned her attention back to the delicate wire moving that she had been trying to do. For some reason, his presence over her shoulder had made her nervous when she was not the type to get jittery while being watched. She was so used to her father standing over her right shoulder as a child up until she went off to college, the man had actually become a very comforting figure to have behind her. Eventualy, she had gotten used to her professors in college breathing down her neck and was capable of performing with flying colors while under pressure. She shook off those thoughts and focused on her task.

A few hours later, the door clicked open. Sara, unaware that Connor had even left, lifted her head to see the android coming over with a sandwich still in its wrapper in hand. She smiled as she put down her tools. "What's that?" She asked.

"Lunch for you. It's a turkey sandwich I bought from the vending machine down the hall."

"Thanks. Just leave it here, I'll get to eating it eventually." In her mind, she added, _leave the android to find the healthiest thing to eat in the entire building._

Connor shook his head. "No, you are not working through your lunch break. You are going to wash your hands of the filth and oils from your thing, and you are going to sit down and eat this like a proper human. It is necessary that you take the time to relax your brain while eating, otherwise you will mess up your digestion."

She sighed as she pushed herself away from the table before standing up. "When did you get so bossy and informal? You were so stuck up just a few hours ago."

He chuckled. "I tend to still speak like an android during work hours. Here, I'm not technically on duty so have no reason not to be a bit more relaxed."

She nodded as she dried her hands and moved over to a clean table, Connor trailing behind her with the sandwich. "I see. In that case, it will be fun to get to see off duty Connor."

He placed the meal in front of her before moving to sit down across the table from her. "Eat, please."

They spent her meal in a comfortable silence, neither feeling as if they had to provide conversation. Connor stayed near her for a while, getting obscure tools that she needed or just keeping her company in general. Towards the end of the night, he spoke of something that was not her work. "You need to put your things down and go home."

She looked up at him in surprise. "Why? The night's not over yet and I still have things to do here."

"I just got a lead for the case but I can't do anything about it while I'm still here. I need to pick up Lieutenant Anderson and drop you off at your apartment."

She noted his return to formal speech before protesting. "How about you leave me here and go do what you have to do?"

He gave her a look that told her she wasn't going to get away with that. "I cannot leave you here. You would have no way of getting home and I cannot stop the investigation halfway through the work day simply because you need to go home. We are leaving now. I apologise for not giving you a choice."

She sighed and took off her lab coat, switching it out for her regular coat. "Alright, I understand. Let's go."

They made their way back through the building and the ride home in a strained silence. Connor was so focused on his next 'mission' that he hadn't noticed Sara's slight anxiety. He accompanied her to her apartment door with an unfocused gaze, his attention clearly elsewhere. Sara didn't know what to do with herself as she was left alone. She listened to his footsteps fade as he walked down the hall before she moved deeper into her sanctuary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing she's working on, as well as the one Charles is working on, was borrowed from Star Trek, oops. Hope you liked the chapter! (I now see why so many authors or youtubers are constantly asking for likes/ kudos or comments). Please, remember to tell me which ending you want first or in which form, it'll help me a lot!! ❤❤


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to update twice a week. Mainly because I'm impatient, woops. So, Monday and Thursday at Four EST are now when the next Destined updates come out. I really love this story and hope you guys do too. This is more of a fluffy filler chapter that somehow managed to squeeze in a bit of plot along the way (wonder how that happened).

Connor arrived at Hank's house and moved to the passenger seat while Hank locked the house. Once the lieutenant was in, they were off. The older man looked at Connor. "So, how was your night?" He asked.

"I enjoyed it a lot."

"Well, that's good to hear, son. How's the girl? She get home okay?"

"Yes, Sara is home safely. However, I may have to apologize to her the next time I see her."

"Oh? Why is that? What'd you do?"

"I may have been a bit harsh with her in taking her home."

"Well, shit, Connor." Hank shrugged and went silent after that. The comfortable silence lasted until they arrived.

Ben Collins was already there and waiting for them as they got out. They had been called out on account of an android who fit the description and model of the one that had targeted Sara and had been seen acting erratically. Connor started walking around, attempting to find the person in question. He saw a few officers in a cluster with a large figure in the middle. Heading in that direction, he found the android they were looking for.

Gavin looked over at him as he came over. "About time you showed up. What, are you on Hank's drinking schedule now?"

Connor's head tilted slightly in confusion. "The lieutenant has been sober for a good few weeks going on two months now. Also, we had a few loose ends to tie up before coming here, such as securing the witness. I'm sorry if you were made to wait but I assure you we got here as fast as we could in a timely fashion."

Gavin shook his head. "Just get a fucking move on, will you?"

Connor turned to the male figure in front of him, ignoring Gavin. The TR400 was of the typical size and appearance that Connor still had logged in his databanks. However, his hair was longer and curlier than any normal android of his make and model. Other than that and his human clothes, he looked like any other construction android. Connor had to cran his head up to look at him. "May I ask you a couple questions in a few moments?" He asked.

The android quietly nodded his head, not saying a word. Connor nodded back at him and turned around, waiting for Hank to arrive. Once he did, the pair turned back to the tall colored android. Hank looked up at him. "Jesus, you're tall."

This earned a chuckle out of the shy being. Connor looked at his partner. "Would it be easier for you if he were in a sitting position?"

Hank shook his head. "Naw, kid. It's fine. Let's get on with this shit."

Connor turned back to the android and held up his hand, projecting an image of Sara onto it. "Do you know who this is?"

The man shook his head. "No, sir." He spoke for the first time.

Connor asked him if he had ever been to her address and was met with the same answer. Thanks to Markus and some of the more recent android acts, Connor was unable to force a memory probe but was able to ask for it only after the android had been questioned. Upon receiving permission from the potential suspect, he searched the memories as gently as possible. He pulled back after a little less than a minute and turned to Hank.

"He's never been near there, let alone broke into it. He has nothing to do with this." He turned back to the man. "I apologize for getting you roped into this. You were mistaken for someone else. However, you were reported to be exhibiting erratic behavior. Would you care to explain that?"

The man scratched the back of his neck, a human gesture that many androids had taken to mimicking. "Well, my cat is up in a tree and I was trying to get it down. People saw me waving at him." he spoke hesitantly, as if he were embarrassed about it.

Hank shook his head. “Connor, be a good little robot and go get the damn animal, will ya.”

Connor began unbuckling his shoulder holster. “Sure thing, Lieutenant.” He dropped the holster belt next to Hank's feet and moved to the base of the tree, indicated by the tall male's pointing finger. Pulling himself onto a low hanging branch, the police android easily scaled the plant. He made it to the branch with the cat and slowly approached. “Here, kitty, kitty.” He said softly, reaching out to the creature. His hand got scratched in response. He quickly pulled it back, examining the scratches in the plastic and the pulled back synthetic skin.

Trying again, he simply reached out at his fastest and grabbed the little beast. Not taking the time to attempt climbing down with the feline, he simply dropped to the ground, bending his knees to absorb the shock. He handed the cat off to the TR400 and walked back to Hank.

“Feelings update: I hate cats.” He muttered to his partner.

Hank laughed as he followed him to the car. “Hey, at least you learned something new.” They got in the car. “You want a burger?”

“Hank, I can't eat.” He deadpanned.

“Well, I want a burger, so we're going to Chicken Feed.”

“Fine by me." Connor had already learned that it was a losing battle to fight Hank about his food choices. He chose to battle the harder things that needed it.  
With that, father and son headed off on their lunch break.

◉ ◉ ◉

Sara had to get groceries. It was evening for most people in her time zone but it might as well have been early morning for her. The young scientist had gone to get something to eat, only to find that she had little to no food in the tiny apartment she called home. So she put on her shoes and called Hank, having been given his number by Connor before he left the night before. Getting his answering machine, she left a message and was out the door, another pocket knife in her bag as well as pepper spray.

She was halfway through her shopping when she saw them. A TR400 android accompanied by an AX400 and a YK500, none of them with an LED. All three were laughing at something one had just said. She quickly snapped a picture of all three on her phone and moved to the next isle, her heart pounding in her throat. Rushing through her shopping as fast as she could, Sara was desperate to get out of there and still get all her items. She moved as fast as she could without running or looking like a fugitive or maniac. She sent the picture to Hank when she was safe on the bus, but his phone was still off. She settled back in her seat and tried to calm her breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to everyone who's bookmarked and left kudos, it really means a lot to me. Honestly, I'm very insecure about almost everything when it comes to my writing so even a simple kudo brings my confidence up a bit and lets me know that people actually enjoy this crappy fic. Fun fact of the update: I don't have one. This doesn't really have anything relevant to anything except that I thought it'd be funny to watch Connor climb a tree and I really like the thought of him having a shoulder holster. It wasn't funny to give Sara a small 'panic attack' but then again, it is slightly fun to torture your charaters so, no regrets there. Anyways (before I give away any more secrets), until Thursday!


	6. Chapter Five.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, this chapter did not go according to plan. I had a set script in mind when writing it, but then I chose the wrong song to listen to while writing and Sara threw the script out the window. So, we're left with this mess instead. Oops? Sorry, not sorry. With that said, this is actually one of my favorite chapters, even if it is fluffier than a stuffed animal.

When she got back home, Connor was already outside her door, raising his fist and seeming to be mid knock. He moved out of her way with a small frown, taking the bags as she opened the door. She let him put them on her counter as she put her shoes away before turning to face him. "Nice to see you." She muttered before going to put the food away.

He leaned against the wall, arms crossed and one foot propped up against the wall as well. "You really should have waited for me to arrive before going out, or at least asking me to get these for you."

She shook her head. "You had a job to do. Also, I did tell you I was going out. I left Hank a voicemail as well as a text, unfortunately, his phone was off and he didn't answer it. I took that as invitation enough to go on my own." She turned to face him after putting the last thing away. "Anyways, I'm fine, I made it home in one piece with no accidents."

His LED spun yellow for a second before he laughed. "I didn't know they were in town." He said.

"Who were in town?"

"Sorry, I was just looking at the picture you had texted Hank. That android is nothing to worry about. Those three are friends of mine and I know for a fact that he has a hard time hurting a fly. That one is most definitely not the one we are looking for.”

“Good to know. While we're on that topic, how did it go today with the other TR400 sighting downtown?”

“That was a false alarm. He wasn't who we wanted. However,” here he paused as if he were collecting his thoughts. “ I have an apology to make to you.”

She lifted her eyebrows on surprise. “Oh, really? And what would that be?”

"I was rude last night. In my drive to continue the investigation, I forgot to consider your feelings and may have hurt them in the process. I was blunt and direct without meaning to be. For that I’m sorry."

She was surprised by that. "I was a bit startled, yes, but my feelings weren't hurt." She lied, her feelings had been bruised but nothing worse than what was still around her middle. She shifted on her feet, trying to forget the cut on her arm that itched like mad.

Connor's mouth quirked up on one side, giving him a lopsided smile. "That's good."

Sara moved around her counter and towards her couch. "Was there any reason you came here? I don't have work today as my lab is being used for something else. I'm sure I told you earlier."

"You did. I came to talk to you about the TR400 earlier as well as apologize."

"Well, do you have anything else to do tonight?"

"Hank is fine for the night and likes that I am spending my time with you as it gives him time to be by himself so, no. I don't have any other plans."  
Sara plopped down on the couch, slightly sprawling before sitting upright and patting the cushion next to her. "Good, come sit. Or, if you want, you can wander around a bit." She paused as she thought of something. "That is, unless you wanted to go somewhere else? You don't have to stay if you don't wanna."

He shook his head as he moved over to sit next to her, relaxing into his seat. "There is no place I would rather spend a night at. Do you have anything planned?"

She scratched her wrist, as she normally did when nervous. "I was going to watch a few movies and maybe just listen to music for a bit."

"I would gladly do both with you. What are we watching first?" She laughed as she got the movie turned on, moving to get ice cream and apologizing for not having any Thirium ice cream for him. She secretly put it on her list to get that as soon as she could. They spent a good few hours watching old movies as well as newer ones.

When they finished their third movie, Connor insisted that Sara get up and move around for a bit while he checked in at work. She moved to get a few pieces of chocolate and to take off her socks, her feet having overheated. She came back to find Connor pacing and muttering to himself, almost as if he were on a phone call. She sat down quietly, trying not to disturb him. Even so, he still noticed the movement and smiled softly at her.

He finished muttering and paused, seeming to wait for a response before he continued for a bit and pressed his fingers to his LED, as if he were hanging up. He came to sit next to Sara. "Sorry about that, it was a work call."

She nodded. "I get those too, it's fine." She clapped and rubbed her hands together. "So, what do you wanna do now?"

"How about listening to music?"

She smiled as she jumped up and pointed to her stereo. "How about you go choose a song while I get the area set up?"

He agreed and walked over to the device, flipping through the files manually rather than simply connecting to it. Sara got to work moving the coffee table a bit to give them room to lie down and making sure the rug was fine. She grabbed her audio splitter and two pairs of headphones, always having a spare just in case. Making her way back to the living room, the woman just stood there for a second in the doorway, watching the android flip through songs. She had a lot of _Here4U_ as well as some other, older groups. She pushed off the doorjamb and came to stand beside the handsome brunette.

"Anything look good to you?" She asked with a hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at her and she got a sudden sense of having known him forever, or at least for a very long time. "You do realize that it is very hard to pick a song when the only things I have to go off of are the title and group, right?"

She laughed. "You mean to tell me that you haven't found even one song that you think has an interesting title and haven't looked it up with the supercomputer you call a brain?" She teased him as she tapped his LED on his temple.

His mouth turned down in a slight pout. "I was trying to be as human as possible while doing this in the hopes that it would add to the experience."

Her smile softened. "Well, that's understandable. Do you want me to pick the song then, or do you want to run the list through your databases first?"

"I'll run it through first."

She nodded and moved to sit on the couch as his LED spun yellow. His eyes seemed to glaze over just the slightest bit, as if he were spacing out. After a minute or two of silence, he spoke up again. "How about, _My Freedom Sounds Better with You_ by _Here4U_?"

"That is actually one of my favorites!"

"How would you like to do this?" His finger hovered over the song button.

Sara tossed him the audio splitter. "Put this in the audio jack. It will make sure the song reaches both pairs of headphones." Everything was bluetooth these days so they didn't have to worry about the cords.

He did as she asked and she picked up the remote for it, gesturing for him to join her as she moved to the floor. He sat next to her and put on the offered headphones, her doing the same before lying down flat on her back. She felt the top of his head touch hers as he laid down mirror image of her. She raised the remote and turned the song on, closing her eyes as the first notes came into her ears.

She loved this feeling, just relaxing her whole body and becoming so limp that it was a struggle to remember to breath. She focused her whole attention on the music, letting it flood her soul as the husky male voice sang about his newfound freedom and his love for his band members turned brothers that had seemed to grow even before they broke the code that had been as chains to them. There was so much newfound emotion in their voices that she couldn't help the silent tears that flowed out of her eyes and into her hair.

The last notes of the song faded into silence but neither of them wanted to move. They both lay there, trying to trap the feeling of the song in their souls and memories. Eventually, Sara broke the silence by sniffling and rubbing her eyes, trying to get rid of her tears before Connor could notice them. He still managed to see them and sat up, smoothly moving around to face her even though her back was to him. He turned her head slightly with a touch so gentle it might as well have not even been there. "Are you alright?"

His voice was even more tender than his touch, if that was even possible, and it made it hard for Sara to breath. She felt her heart keep its slow pace, which surprised her. She scratched her wrist as she looked up at him. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Then why the tears?" Now that her attention was on him, he withdrew his hand, leaving Sara with a sense of loss.

She smiled slightly. "The emotions in the song were so strong that I couldn't help but feel them. I'm an empathetic crier, sorry."

"There is no reason to apologize for having emotions."

She laughed at that. "Says the android who only gained his right to have emotions three months ago."

"That's true, which is why there is no longer a reason to feel bad for having feelings."

They just sat there for a few minutes, looking at each other and smiling. Eventually, Connor seemed to rouse himself and stood, holding down his hand to help Sara stand as well. "I should probably be on my way out, dawn is only a few hours away." She reluctantly nodded as she walked him to the door, even as she wished he could have stayed longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Here4U, but I did come up with the song name on my own. Just thought that should be out there. Fun fact for the chapter: I actually do this, I will lie down in the middle of a room with headphones on and just listen to music. It's kind of like meditating and helps me destress sometimes.


	7. Chapter Six.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was not meant to be a filler but it turned out to be more of one than I wanted it to be. There's still a lot of plot in this, it just feels like more of a filler. Have fun with this!

Connor was back the next night, and the night after that, and the one after that, until almost half a month had gone by with him accompanying Sara to work. Nothing truly eventful happened in that time, but the pair got closer. Connor found a love for a few of the older bands that he was eager to share with her so their nights were often spent with music in the background. Sara learned that, even though Hank prefered rock, Connor liked almost anything, as long as it wasn't country. He seemed to despise country music for some reason, saying that the accents were hard to understand. Some nights he would bring her ballads to listen to and judge or sing along with if she knew it. Others, it would be pop that had captured his attention. Still others would be jazz, which seemed to be something he had in common with Hank.

She enjoyed giving him book recommendations to read, both fiction and non. Sara found it amusing and endearing the way that he would gush over a book or scene that had captured his imagination to the point that he would use his reconstruction to visualize the actions of the characters better than she ever could.

He seemed to go through the books so fast that she wondered if he downloaded them or read on the job. She had to give him multiple suggestions per day and even lend him a few of her treasured paperbacks.

They also had other interests that they would share with each other. Connor learned that his android precision allowed him to be a great artist and used it when dealing with composite sketches of criminals to the point that he was even asked to help other officers with their cases just to draw the suspect for them. He enjoyed getting challenges from Sara of things to draw on his lunch break and would go through one or two of those a week. Sara had an interest in space and was keeping a close eye on the news about the first android astronauts and their explorations. The two enjoyed talking about it and the effects it could have on society or science in general.

It was amusing to Sara whenever Connor would share an "emotions update" with her. It seemed to be his way of marking what he liked and disliked into a clear catalog. She loved the times when he would come in and rattle off one of his emotions updates, it made her realize how human he was becoming with his own set of what he loved and hated. Seeing that Hank and his dog, Sumo, were both firmly at the top of Connor's "love" list, it almost made Sara curious as to where she fell on the lists. At the same time, she was also almost too afraid to ask, not knowing if she would like the answer.

They also grew a bit closer as Connor was allowed to help with some of the more delicate parts of Sara's projects and quickly became a well known face and voice around the building thanks to his nimble and steady fingers. If he was more of an errand boy on his first visit, getting tools for Sara but wandering around for the most part, he had graduated to lab assistant now, helping with the projects and being allowed to stand behind her and learn about certain parts of what she was doing. Such as now, when he was helping her with a particularly tricky wire.

"There you go." He said as he hopped back onto the edge of the table.

"Thanks." Sara muttered before moving another bit of wires around. "So," she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, "about your new favorite group."

He sighed. "It's _not_ my new favorite group."

"It just comes close to it as you will be obsessed over it for the next few days as you learn all there is to know about them as a whole and as soloist before moving on to the next group or genre that sparks your interest."

He scratched the back of his arm, a habit he had picked up from her. "Maybe." She laughed as he continued. "Anyways, they have a lot of cool songs. Some of them have good meanings behind them and others just sound nice."

She nodded. "Like what? Which are your favorite songs of theirs?"

Their conversation continued for some time until Connor's internal clock told him the sun was rising. "I need to be at work in a little bit." He said as he laid a hand on Sara's shoulder.

She looked up at him, eyebrows tilted hopefully. "Five more minutes?" She asked, even as she knew the answer.

He chuckled as his finger reached out to tap her nose. "You think you're cute, but, no. Not tonight, sorry."

She nodded in defeat, th conversation being one that was repeated often between the two, Sara always hoping for the the extra five but knowing that she had a slim chance of getting it. Connor helped her take off the lab coat and put on her winter one as the weather was still chilly. They walked out to the car, Connor getting the doors and making sure she was in before going to the driver's side.

He drove her home and walked her to the apartment door. Just as she was opening it, Connor's LED spun yellow before going to red, then back to a struggling blue mixed with red. It seemed he was trying to remain calm while panicking on the inside.

Sara out her hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Connor?" She asked.

He shook his head as his LED made its way to blue and stayed there. "I just got a call from Hank. It seems that a TR400 has been spotted downtown and is limping slightly so we think it has a high possibility of being the one who attacked you almost a month ago."

"Do you need to leave?" She tried to remain as calm as he was but was unable to stop her voice from shaking altogether.

His hand came up to rest on her shoulder, just as her's had done to him just a second ago. "I need to leave in a minute. I can stay just long enough to make sure you are safely inside. Do you need me to clear the place first?"

She shook her head, knowing that he was on a time limit even if he didn't say so. "No, you need to go. I'll be fine."

He nodded and leaned against the wall as she opened the door. She closed it behind her and once again listened to his footsteps walk away. There were not many days anymore that she stayed to hear his steps but they were extremely calming for her to hear and this is one of the times that she needed that calm.  
Moving through her routine, she mechanically got ready for bed, making sure to unwrap her bandage to let the wound air out for the day. She slid under the covers and allowed herself to lay still and feel the covers settle around her. She tossed and turned for a while until she found a good position then slowly drifted off into the comforting embrace of sleep.

◉ ◉ ◉

She woke up to the sound of glass breaking. She threw her legs over the side of the bed, getting up to go see what the noise was. Halfway into a standing position, a bag was thrown over her head and torso and she was picked up, her middle slamming into a shoulder, causing new bruises to form. She beat on the back with her fists and screamed as much as she could with the fabric covering her mouth. Her feet kicked in the air as she tried to make herself as much of a nuisance as possible. All she got for her trouble was a whack to her head that made her see spots and her vision go dim. She tried to stay conscious as her captor's feet moved toward the window, the source of the broken glass. The last thing she heard was glass crunching under foot before her vision faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, all I can say is, I'm sorry. (not really) The ending of this turned out better than I thought it would and I'm quite proud of it. The next few chapters are going to be a wild ride and will make good on the promise the "violence" tag makes.


	8. Chapter Seven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the part where the violence tag comes into play. If you aren't comfortable with blood, I would suggest not reading it. Then again, if you're in this fandom, you're probably comfortable enough with it. Enjoy!

Sara woke up in a sitting position, a different bag over her head. This one didn't go all the way down to her waist as the last one did but stopped at her shoulders instead. She tried to move but when she pulled on her wrists, they were tied down to something. She attempted to kick but her legs were tied in the same manner. Her torso was also tied down, not doing her poor midsection any favors.

The bag was ripped off her head as she let out a groan.

Bright sunlight flooded her eyes, causing them to as she tries to adjust. A harsh voice spoke from somewhere near her, sounding like years of chain-smoking.

“Look who decided to _wake up_.” It growled.

She tossed her head, ignoring the ache in her temples. “Who are you? What do you want with me? Where are-”

“You can't honestly be that _stupid_ , can you, Sara Rose Brown?” The rough voice growled again, her full name being spit out of his mouth with contempt wrapped around it. Whipping her head to her left, she finally found the source of the voice. A fit, middle-aged man stood there, his clothes fitting him like a glove but his hair a mess, as if he only gave attention to half his appearance. He spoke again, his voice grating against her eardrums. "Have you really learned nothing from all those books you read? You should know by now."

She huffed, trying to stay brave even as her insides were melting from fear. "The least you could do is tell me your name so that I can know to whom I am speaking."

He laughed, which was worse than his burnt voice. "You really should have more brains than that. Nevertheless, I will have to decline from telling you my name."

"Then tell me what you want with me!" Sara practically screamed her words in anger and fear.

Her head whipped to the side so fast, she barely had time to process that he had just backhanded her. Her cheek stung as he grabbed her chin and forced her to face him. "You, my dear," he said in a tone that was so calm it unsettled her, "are not the one to be asking questions." He released her face, shoving her head back into the chair. As he started pacing in front of her, his voice sounded once again. "You are a very tiring, meddlesome _bitch_ , did you know that? Always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Life would all be so much easier if you would leave damn well alone!" He moved over and slammed his hand down on Sara's left wrist, producing a cracking sound that made her let out a scream.

She tried to calm her breathing again, unsuccessfully. Her voice came out raspy and shaking. "What do you mean?"

He snarled and backed away. "You still don't get it! You are not in a position to be asking questions!" He paced for a few more minutes before calming down and coming back to stand over her, hands behind his back and a hard expression on his face. "You are ruining everything by being where you are. It is all coming together and would do so a lot faster if you would just leave it alone."

He grabbed her hair and slammed the back of her head into the edge of the chair she was tied to. "I had to send it out twice, three times now, to deal with you. Yet, still you persist in trying to find the stupid android you found all those years ago. What you don't know is that it's _right_ under your _nose_. Which, is good for me as it lets me do what I need. However, your meddling and searching and all your questions and closeness is getting on my last nerve. I am normally a patient man, but you are driving me to my very limit."

Sara finally understood what was going on. Holding this knowledge made her feel a small bit of power. Using this, she spat on his shoes. "Is that why you came after me? Because I helped create the first androids? Newsflash, they would have been created either way. Elijah already had the plans drawn up, all he needed was help on a few of the minor details."

This time it was the other cheek that was hit and the palm of his hand that connected with her flesh. "Now, now. Where are your manners?"  
She looked around the area as she pretended to search for something. They were in a large room, very likely a warehouse. "I seem to have misplaced them. Maybe you can come back when I find them."

She got punched in the stomach for her sass. "I don't have time to deal with you." The man straightened up and beckoned with one hand for something. A hulking shadow detached itself from the wall, limping slightly as it made it's way over to stand next to Sara's captor. He was tall, six foot by her measurements. His hair was cropped short and his LED was a calm blue, even as he made the motions of cracking his knuckles. Her captor put a hand on the TR400's shoulder as he turned back to look at Sara.

"This guy, however, has all the time in the world to deal with you." He clapped and rubbed his hands as he moved to the door. "I'll leave you two be."

The door closed as the android moved closer to Sara, picking up something from a table close by. "You did me a lot of damage last time." He said in a slow voice that seemed to be coming from his toes, it was so deep. "It's my turn to repay you." Without further warning, he slammed a knife blade into her left thigh, causing her to arch her back and scream.

He left the knife there as he went back to the table. He seemed to deliberate over what to do next, eventually selecting something else and coming back over. Sara's heartrate skyrocketed as she saw the wicked looking knife he held. Her brain would not let her process the details of the thing but it did registed the pain as the android broke her right ankle with a stomp on her foot. He stabbed the knife into her right shoulder. By this point, Sara was trying to contain her screaming. She let out a whimper when he pressed on the same wrist the man had already partially broken. The android broke the wrist all the way, going through all the small bones with a crunch that was sickening.

He left both knives in her, one in the thigh and the other in her shoulder. Moving around, he seemed to have seen the scrape on her arm as he came back with yet another one and dragged it up her skin, just barely touching the scabbing. He suddenly drove the knife deep into her left elbow, deeper than the original wound, and slowly scraped the utensil down her forearm, Sara screaming all the while.

The torture continued for a while and the whole time, Sara could not help but call out in her mind for someone to save her. The only person that came to mind was Connor. The young woman could only take so much before she passed out from blood loss. The last thing she saw was a fist moving to connect with her eye socket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I wouldn't give into the "villain monologue" cliché, but here we are. This was my first time writing something like this so a comment to tell me I did alright or where I can improve is very appreciated. Kudos feed my writing spring and help keep the story going. Fun fact of the update: this wasn't the biggest reason but one of them for leaving the villain nameless was simply that I was too lazy to name him. The bigger reason was trying to stay away from the cliché of the villain giving their whole plan and name and everything away to the captured person. So, yeah.


	9. Chapter Eight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being late on this!! I had the chapter written I swear! I just lost track of time. I would pour out the troubles of today but you guys probably don't care about that. You came here for my shitty writing, not my sob stories. Here it is, enjoy!

Connor arrived at Sara's house a little early, having been sent off by Hank to "go play watchdog". He knocked on her door and waited for the familiar sound of her shoes or socked feet coming to open it. He frowned after a minute and ten seconds, not hearing anything moving inside. He knocked again, louder this time, hoping that she just had her music turned up too loud. After not hearing anything for almost three minutes, he became concerned. He reached up and got the key she kept up there, opening her door and stepping inside. He called her name as he surveyed the area. There was no sign of disturbance in the living room nor kitchen. Her coat and shoes were still where she kept them, directly next to her bag. He called her name again as he poked his head into a hall closet and even into the bathroom. He started to get worried as he approached her bedroom.

He stepped into the bedroom and felt a new emotion for the first time. It was so strong that he could only think of one thing that it could be: horror. This was the second emotion Sara had caused him to feel but he refused to think about the first one as he called Hank, trying to get into his work mindset that usually comes so easily.

Hank picked up on the third ring, his voice calm as ever. "Yeah, kid? You need something?"

Connor tried to keep the horror and panic from his voice but it leaked through and made it shake like a leaf in the wind. "I- Hank, I need help."

There was a sound as if a door slammed and frantic footsteps were heard. "Are you still at her place?! I'm coming, Son."

Connor nodded, forgetting for a second that Hank couldn't see him. He confirmed his location verbally just a second later. "Yeah, Hank. Yeah, I'm still at her place. Come quickly, please?" Something in his voice broke on the last word, making it come out as a whisper.

Hank swore into the phone. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Hang tight, Connor, alright?"

"Sure. No problem." He tried for cheer but it sounded fake even to him.

He tried to look around the room but couldn't seem to process much of what he saw. All he managed to do was pace around until there was a pounding of footsteps up the stairs. He met Hank, who was huffing and puffing with his hands on his knees at the door.

Hank let out a sigh and straightened before pulling Connor into a hug. When he released him, he smacked the android on the back of the head. It didn't hurt, but Connor still rubbed at the spot, if nothing less than to just smooth his hair back out. "Don't do that to me again!" Hank scolded as he walked deeper into the apartment. "Do you realize how hard it is for me to run all the way here from the station? We're lucky she doesn't live farther away."

He looked around for a second before seeming to be confused and looking back at Connor. "Speaking of which, where is she?"

Connor took an unnecessary breath to steady himself. "That's why I called you. I can't find her."

"What do you mean by that?" Hank scowled as he crossed his arms.

Connor motioned with his head for Hank to follow him, just as he had in the Eden Club. He led the man to Sara's room and let him see the carnage that was there. The window was broken, the heavy curtain flapping from the wind, the blankets were a mess and multiple pillows that should have been on the bed were littered across the floor.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Hank swore.

"I know. I can't seem to calm down enough to examine any of it or reconstruct what happened." His voice grew more and more agitated as he went on until it felt as if his whole body was shaking.

"Sorry, Connor." Hank muttered. Connor had must enough time to process what he said before the palm his hand connected with the android's cheek. Connor's head whipped to the side from the force before moving back into position.

Connor looked at Hank, confused. "What was that for?" He asked. It didn't hurt and Hank wasn't angry so, as far as Connor could tell, there was no reason for him to get slapped.

"I thought it would clear your mind a bit. Guess I was wrong." Hank shrugged as if it no longer mattered. Connor decided that it didn't and moved deeper into the room.

"It actually did help slightly." He said. It was true. He was able to think a bit clearer than he had been and the confusion over the blow had dislodged some of his fearand allowed him to function properly. "I'm going to try analyzing this again."

Hank spread his hands out. "Be my fucking guest."

Connor analyzed the evidence and saw the whole scene play out, relaying it to Hank once he was done. He moved over and pulled the curtain aside to reveal the broken window. There was a bit of blue on the glass as well as a smidge of red. "Am I allowed to analyze this?" He asked Hank.

Hank threw up his hands and just gave Connor a look that he had once heard Officer Miller refer to as "the stink eye". "Do it quickly, would ya?" Hank said.

Connor nodded and sampled the blue blood. There was no use seeing if the red blood was anyone else's when it was clearly Sara's, but Connor did it anyways, if nothing other than to just have her blood type in his databanks should it become useful.

**Blue Blood**

**Model TR400**

**Serial number: 317 570 328**

Connor frowned. He did a systems diagnostic and tried again. Same result. "It's the same android as before."

"Good! Then why are you still frowning?" Hank asked as they made their way out.

"The android is not a deviant."  
"Didn't we already find this out last time?"

"Yes, but we still have no idea who the owner is."

"You mean to tell me that the state of the art android can tell me the model, serial number, and all the rest of the deviant shit, but you can't tell me who owns it?"

Connor nodded. "Unfortunately, that is correct. I was not programed with that as it wasn't thought to be necessary. I was made to hunt deviants who were supposed ultimately be destroyed once caught. What did it matter who owned them if they were to be destroyed and not returned?"

"Alright, that's a good point," Hank grumbled, making his way down the stairs.

"So, how do you think we should proceed?" Connor queried.

"Well, let's treat this as a case, even if we have to call the fucking thing in ourselves." Hank said as they reached his car, him driving.

Connor nodded. "Would you like me to call it in?"

Hank scoffed. "Connor, this is all yours. Do what you want with it. I'm just the one making sure shit gets done."

Connor was silent for a minute before his LED went from red to yellow and back to red as he called it in. "Thank you, Hank." He said, sincerity in every syllable.

"No problem, kid. I see how much you care for her." There was silence in the car for a few minutes, Hank's music off for once. After a while, Hank spoke up again. "Can you tell how fresh the blood was?"

"Not the blue blood but I was able to get Sara's. It's only about an hour or two old, the exact time is unknown."

"That is kind of obvious because, as you so helpfully pointed out in the beginning, blue blood fades off after a few hours."

"But is still able to be sampled." Connor added, pleased that Hank would remember a tidbit such as that.

"So, she's only been gone for a few hours at most. When we get back to the precinct, we can find a map with her apartment on it and get a search radius."

And that's exactly what they did. Connor drew up a search radius based off of how fast the typical TR400 could go (as well as factoring the slight limp and the burden of having to carry Sara, which were very small factors) while Hank rushed a search warrent. Once that was done, Connor went over to Tina Chen's desk and asked her for help. Once the situation was explained, she readily agreed. Gavin Reed was harder to get but Connor knew that despite how abrasive the man could be, that he was a good field officer that he was glad to have with him. He was then asked by Tina if he wanted any SWAT. His answer was, "Yes, I do. If I get a choice, ask for Captain Allen. If not, it's still Captain Allen. I would trust no other to handle this." Tina managed to pull it off and before they knew it, the SWAT team was at the door and Connor was being greeted warmly, if gruffly, by Captain Allen.

They also called an ambulance to stay on standby once they found the most likely place for them to be hiding: an abandoned warehouse. Connor just hoped the ambulance was unnecessary and that Sara was unhurt. The probability was not high on that but he chose to ignore it as he got into the SWAT van that would take them there. It wasn't that far from her apartment but he hoped it was far enough that they wouldn't be able to do much to her. He had gotten no ransom calls and neither had Hank so he wasn't sure exactly what they wanted.

They moved out and made it to the warehouse in record time, the SWAT team spreading out to circle the building and watch all exits. Connor just wanted to rush in there and get Sara out, consequences be damned. Against that raged the programming that helped him deal with a lot of this. He held position until the team was ready, then gave the order to move in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would apologize for making Connor suffer as well as dragging this out, but I can't help it. I enjoy torturing characters at times. I also had a bad day and took it out on my characters, oops. It helps me to know if people actualy enjoy this if you leave a comment or kudo. I understand if you don't, I'm a silent reader myself when reading stuff like this.


	10. Chapter Nine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this being a bit shorter, I would have combined it with the one after but then it felt too long. I still hope you enjoy. Show of hands in the comments of who's enjoying the story so far! *Both of author's hands shoot up then slowly go down as they think of how many hours they put into this and still hate parts of it*. Not even me? Okay, then.

Connor had wanted to lead the assault but knew it was better to let Captain Allen do what he was best at. He followed the man out of the van and towards the door, itching to go full speed but hanging back to match Allen's pace. Finally, after what felt like forever but he knew was less than a minute, they entered the building. The half of the SWAT team that hadn't circled the warehouse went in first, led by Captain Allen and Connor. They spread out and cleared the building while Connor ran to the center of the structure, where a chair was set up with a human on it.

Connor knew without a doubt that he would have recognised the human anywhere. He circled the chair to face the unconscious brunette and what he saw brought back the feeling of horror from the apartment. It was definitely Sara, and she was a mess. She had a knife in her right shoulder and thigh, her face was black and blue and had swelling in multiple places, her left arm had a broken wrist and a nasty gash in the forearm, multiple ribs were broken, and her right ankle was also broken. Connor shouted for the paramedics to get in there even as he tried to untie her.

The paramedics came and he was forced to step aside as she was moved from the chair to a stretcher. They took the knives out and out bandages in their places, Connor helping to stop the bleeding by just being there to apply the right amount of pressure. They worked on her for another few minutes before the paramedics deemed her stable enough to move. They picked up the stretcher, Connor holding her uninjured hand and refusing to leave her side. She was brought out to the ambulance and carefully lifted in, Connor being allowed to ride in the back with her.

"Connor! The fuck are you doing?" Hank called out.

Connor texted his phone, not having the energy to respond verbally nor the will to tear his gaze from the woman lying in front of him. "I'm going with her to the hospital. Captain Allen can deal with the people who did this, I trust you to help him."

He got a response in text. "Go on, get the fuck outta here." Connor smiled slightly as the doors closed and the ambulance began to move.

◉ ◉ ◉

Sara woke up in a blindingly white room, unsure of what was going on. Her body ached in every inch but there was nothing else. She tried to lift her head but a hand came up to stop her. "Please, don't move for now." The nurse said.

She turned her head to the side, watching the nurse finish replacing the bag for her IV. "Is that morphine?" She asked, head still fuzzy.

The nurse smiled at her as he reached down to put the empty bag in a bucket he held. As he tilted his head down, he revealed that he still had an LED. She felt a bit more relaxed, knowing that she was in good hands. The nurse turned his head to the side at a sound that was too soft for her to pick up. He turned his head back to look at Sara. "Someone's here to see you, Miss Brown." He said.

She tried to sit up, but was pushed down gently by the nurse. "He'll come to you, don't move, please." He said before leaving.

A face she would recognize anywhere replaced him a second later in Sara's field of vision. Connor smiled as he came closer, picking up her hand gently. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm sore but other than that nothing feels hurt. I probably have the morphine to thank for that." She nodded her head to the IV. "How about you? Did anything happen to you?"

He shook his head, even as his LED spun from red to blue. They just sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Sara spoke up. "So, when do I get out of here?"

Connor frowned. "Sara, you have multiple serious injuries, some that barely missed leaving you crippled. One of your lungs was almost punctured by a broken rib. You're not getting out of here any time soon." He was silent for a second before he resumed speaking. "Why do you want to leave?"  
She wrinkled her nose. "I hate hospitals. They always smell funny and just give me weird vibes."

Connor gave her a soft smile. "I'll see if I can get you released early, but that means that you will have to take it easy. It could also mean that you may need a caretaker for a while."

Sara was going to argue, but her protestations died on her lips as Connor's LED went yellow as he blinked rapidly. "Hank just texted me." He explained. "I just got the next few days off to help you as well as get your statement on what happened."

He stayed with her the rest of the day, keeping her company and just generally helping her stay sane and not go stir crazy. He only left to get her food or to briefly talk with Hank, even staying overnight.

◉ ◉ ◉

Three weeks. That's how long she had to stay in the hospital. Even then, she was confined to her apartment for the next three to five weeks after that. Connor helped her schedule physical therapy to help with the broken ankle and wrist as well as the knife to the shoulder. He was always there, using up a lot of his days off, from sick days that he doesn't need to vacation days that he never used. Sara hated to drag him from work, especially when they were so close to finding the man who did this, but she also liked how protective he was being and having him so close all the time.

It was a week after she had been released from the hospital, almost four since the kidnapping. Yet still, she woke from a nightmare at noon, gasping for breath. She had never really fixed her sleeping habits but Connor had just taken it in stride. He came in from the living room, datapad still in hand as he checked on her. Sara had closed her eyes to try to calm her racing heart so felt the bed dip before she knew he was there. Opening her eyes, she saw his concerned gaze on her, his book abandoned on her side table. All she could do was wordlessly rest her head against his chest and try to breath. His hand came up to stroke her hair, helping her calm down.

"It's alright, I'm here." He was silent for a few second before speaking again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sara didn't respond for a moment, letting out a breath. "Not particularly." She muttered.

He made a noise of understanding before nudging her slightly. "Scoot over." He said, reaching to grab the datapad back.

She looked up at him, confused. "What?"

He smiled gently. "Move over." He said again.

She did as requested, watching in a combination of fascination and confusion as he lifts the covers and slides in next to her, moving his arm to curl it around her. She's pulled against his chest, head tucked below his chin. One of his hands came up to be carded through her hair while the other held the datapad, his current book still displayed on the screen. She shifted to get a bit more comfortable before glancing over to see the title. _The Last Knight_. She smiled.  
Moving her head to look up at Connor she spoke a single word. "Why?"

He understood what she meant and answered in a soft voice. "You have trouble sleeping alone. I wanted to see what would happen if you had someone with you. I'm hoping you will be able to notice that someone is here to protect you and will keep the nightmares at bay."

She smiled ruefully. "An android dreamcatcher. Not the worst thing out there." Laying her head back on his chest, she soon drifted off again, still being exhausted.

Once Connor knew she was asleep and her breathing had deepened and evened out, he dropped a kiss on the top of her head and whispered, "Sleep well, Sara," before going back to the book she had recommended for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR RANT COMING UP:  
> I really hate my mind sometimes. I am currently working on the sequel for this story as well as having ideas for two others for this fandom sitting on my backburner. Not only that, but I have a report for school that I should be working on but instead am sitting here writing this instead. I have so much on my plate I'm biting off more than I can chew and staying up until 2:00 just writing and feeling like I'm getting nowhere.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monday update! Yay!! I'm actually currenty writing the sequel to this at the moment and am getting close to the end of it as well. We only have a few more chapters in this before we get onto the multiple endings.

She slept deeply and soundly until evening, when Connor tried to extricate himself from the tangle of blankets and human as her limbs had wrapped around him in her sleep. She stirred as he finally managed to stand upright and smooth out his t-shirt. He whispered comforting things softly and put a discarded pillow where he had just been, watching as she dropped back off.

He smiled and moved off to the kitchen. Hooking up to the sound system, he set the volume down low and put on a quiet song that had him humming as he tried to make breakfast for her. He enjoyed the quiet of the evening and the feeling of being alone with himself. Eventually, he finished making the breakfast, the bacon only slightly burnt, and turned the music up a bit more. It would have been almost imperceptible for humans at the previous volume but now it was just quiet enough for good background music. He made his way to the bedroom and woke the brown eyed woman with a slight shake and and a single calling of her name.

She woke with a start but relaxed as his face registered in her brain. "Good evening." He said as he picked her up. Her ankle didn't have a cast anymore, neither did her wrist, but she still had crutches that were difficult to use when she's half asleep. It was easier to simply pick her up. Also, he found it fun. It was interesting, he mused as he brought her to sit on the couch, the power of having someone rely on him so completely as to allow him to carry them and to even reach out for him to do so, trusting him not to drop them. He grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over before moving to pick up the plate and bring it over. He handed it and a fork to Sara before settling next to her on the couch.

"So, what do you want to do today?" He asked.

Sara swallowed the bite in her mouth before answering him. "I don't really know. I don't have therapy until later tonight, so the rest is free. Did you have any ideas?"

He thought for a second. She had been fed and had gotten a good rest. The other options were to entertain her with music or movies or... His thoughts trailed off as he figured out the perfect activity.

"How about, we watch movies until therapy. After that, would you like a bath?" She had done a few baths in the weeks that the had been in the hospital but had only done showers since she had gotten home. She had complained to Connor the other day how hard it was to take a shower when one arm still wouldn't go above her head yet and her ankle wasn't stable enough to put her full body weight on.

She frowned slightly, a furrow appearing between her eyebrows. "How would that work? The bath, I mean, not the movies."

He chuckled, even as the conversation was slightly awkward. "Well, you could change into a two piece bathing suit and I could help with your hair, reading to you while you wash the rest. Afterwards, maybe it would help relax your muscles to just sit in the water."

She nodded, warming up to the idea. "Okay, sure. A bath after therapy and movies before. It's a deal." Her therapy was at eight and it was only about six now so Connor went ahead and searched up a movie, connecting to the TV and playing it from there. While they watched it, Sara snuggled up against the android, not that he minded.

Connor helped Sara down to where the therapist was waiting to pick her up. Once back in the apartment, he connected to his work terminal and started going through Sara's case file. To anyone looking at him now, he would look like a normal person resting on the couch if his LED wasn't there. He worked through the times that Sara was asleep and at therapy, being able to use his off days for when she really needed him. Her sessions never lasted past eight thirty so Connor went down to meet her at the curb and helped her back up the stairs. He had told her that she might want to move to a different apartment, one that had an elevator maybe, but she had just shot it down as too much of a hastle and he had dropped the topic.

"Go ahead and get comfortable," Connor said as he moved away from Sara once they had entered the living room. "I'll go start the bath."

He didn't wait for a response but headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later, the rhythmic thump of Sara's crutches was heard heading into the bedroom after soft music had started to play, followed by the soft sound of the door closing. Connor paused halfway through filling the tub before moving to look through the cabinets under the sink, coming back out a second later with a bath bomb in hand. He smiled at the little thing and tossed it in to dissolve in the water, adding bubbles and a sweet scent.

A minute before Connor shut the water off, Sara's door opened and she appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, swaddled in a fluffy robe. Connor stood up from where he crouched by the tub and walked over to help her put the crutches down, easily taking most if not all of her weight onto himself. He helped her over to the tub then let his hands rest on her shoulders, silently asking if she needed help with the rest. Sara nodded and undid the belt, allowing Connor to help her slide the robe off before he gave her a hand into the tub.

She sank into the bubbles and disappeared under them for a moment before coming back up for air. Connor smiled at her, allowing her the time to relax before speaking. "How did therapy go?" He asked as he grabbed the shampoo bottle. The back of the tub had a shelf that was big enough for the android to sit on. He rolled up his pants legs almost to the knees and laid a hand towel over his lap, guarding the rest. He was wearing an old tshirt of Hank's that he didn't mind getting wet.

Sara sat up a bit and moved closer to him, allowing him to start massaging the soap into her hair. "Mmm, it went alright. My therapist says that I'm getting better. My ankle is almost completely healed and soon I can stop using the crutches but will need to take it slow and might need to resort back to the crutches occasionally. However, I'm going to still need the therapy for my shoulder. It's hard to reach anything that's shoulder height or above without pain."

"That's good. How's the arm?" He gently tapped her left shoulder, indicating the wrist and forearm.

"The wrist is healing but I may never regain full use of it because of the way it was broken. The arm is almost fully healed but no matter what the doctors do, it's going to leave a scar. I don't know how I feel about that."

"It'll be fine. I've never known you to be self conscious about anything, why now?" All he could think, but wouldn't dare to say aloud, was "I don't care what they think. To me, you are perfect."

"I've never had anything to be self conscious about before now with you." She protested.

Connor gently pushed on her shoulder, telling her to rinse. She did so, dunking her head and scrubbing before coming back up. "That's not true," Connor said as he moved on to conditioner. "What about that one time that you almost dropped your food processor thing?" He knew the correct name for it, he just enjoyed teasing her about it.

She turned to face him, moving her hair out of his hands. "We agreed never to mention that!!" She exclaimed.

He chuckled, motioning for her to sit back. "Come on, let's finish this." He said. She did as he asked and sat back, allowing him to continue washing her hair.

"Anyways, I just wanted to point out that you have, indeed, had reasons to be self conscious but have never, within my hearing nor knowledge, had reason to be embarrassed about yourself with me."

"This is different..." Her voice trailed off.

"How?" He asked as gently as he could.

She smacked the water with her foot, her leg coming out before landing back in the liquid with a splash that sloshed a bit over the edge. "It just is!" Her head shook, causing her hair to fly out of Connor's hands and spray him with suds and water. "I don't know how to explain it other than that!"

"Okay, okay." Connor held up his hands in defeat while trying not to laugh at her frustration. "I'll drop it. Now, come back here, please, so I can finish with your hair." She quietly scooted back and let him pick up her hair again.

The rest of the night passed quietly. Connor stayed with Sara as she dozed off and on in the tub, sometimes reciting portions of a book that he had downloaded, others just sitting in silence while they listened to the music coming from the living room. All in all, it was a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact. *Nervous laughter.* This chapter did not turn out the way I wanted. Like, AT ALL. I wanted something completely different but this is what came out and by the time it did (this is one that took the longest to do) I was so done with the scenes that I left it as it is. Sorry if it feels disjointed, this is not what I wanted. I hope you enjoyed it either way. I've been working really hard to make a good story and have loaded my brain with so much writing advice that this feels like dirt. I try to remind myself that a lot of the advice is for full fledged novels but I'm trying to do a good job and give you a novel-like fic that turns out to be flopping utterly and completely. I'm also not getting much support for this from anyone. So yeah, thanks for sticking around to read my writing rant (if you did).


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, this thing is coming to an end. We still have a little ways to go before that happens, but it's coming close. I hope all my readers have been enjoying this as much as I have. I'm so excited to see that almost three hundred people have read this!!!

Connor was back to spending his days with Hank but his nights with Sara. He was currently driving Hank home before going over to Sara's apartment. Hank's heavy metal was playing in the car but Connor had something on his mind. He reached over and turned the music down a small bit, not taking his eyes off the road. Hank looked over at him, a none-too-well-hidden look of concern crossing his features. "Everything alright, kid?" He asked.

Connor frowned slightly, not truly knowing how to out a voice to the thoughts that were swirling around his mind palace. "Yes, but no." He finally answered noncommittally.

"You wanna talk 'bout it?"

Connor nodded absentmindedly, changing lanes. "I don't really know how to talk about it." He said.

A small smile that Connor missed crossed Hank's face for a brief second. "Try." He advised, a gruffness to his voice.

Connor took an unnecessary deep breath. "I've been having . . . difficulties . . . around Sara."

"Like what?"

"Any thing that she does, even down to sneezing, has been catalogued in my memory as important, even if I did not specifically designate it to be so. Also, my thirium pump seems to act up and miss a few pumps when I see her occasionally. I feel the urge to make her smile and get a crawling sensation in my chest," he grabbed at a part of his chest that was where a human heart would be, "every time she seems to be in pain or her stress levels rise. I felt horror for the first time when I knew she was gone. There are many other symptoms such as having the thought that if she were ever hurt again I would rip the man apart with my bare hands and I get a feeling of rage when I think of her being kidnapped." He turned his head to briefly glance at Hank. "Do you know what this means?"

Hank laughed. "Yeah, I fucking do, actually." He just sat there for a second, laughing.

Connor's brow furrowed. "So, you're not going to help me?" He wondered.

"Connor, you fucking android." The phrase that was once spoken with contempt and disgust was now uttered with fondness and fatherly love, as if he were speaking to his own flesh and blood. "You've got it bad, don't you?"

"Got what bad, Hank?"

"What are some of your other 'symptoms'?" He put a special emphasis on the last word that was not lost on Connor, but the prototype simply took it as Hank being Hank.

"I don't want her to get hurt, I hate even the thought of it. I feel my Thirium flow a bit faster when she brushes against me or relies on me for something. I enjoy the thought of her relying on me, especially when she was just waking up and would raise her arms to allow me to pick her up and bring her out to the couch. There are days when I find myself thinking about a future with her in it. I don't know what's going on. Hank," his voice got a bit quieter and shaky, "I'm scared."  
Hank nodded knowingly. "You've got a rare disease," he said with perfect seriousness that Connor wasn't sure if he should buy or not, "one that there's no going back from. This is something that you're stuck with for life, whether you like it or not."

Connor was apprehensive. Hank had gotten quite a bit more playful after he had stopped drinking alcohol, especially after work. It was almost as if his inner child came out to play sometimes and Connor had a hard time deciding if Hank was "pulling his leg" as he says or if he was telling the truth. "What's it called?" He asked, deciding to play along for now.

"It's called 'love'." Hank's voice was still serious but there was a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there a second ago.

Connor was relieved it wasn't anything serious. He looked up love and found that many of the references to it in literature greatly match his symptoms. There was still one thing that confused him, however. "Why did you call it a disease and something that won't go away?"

"Look, son, if it's true love, you won't ever get over her. Even if you move on to love someone else, she'll still have a place in your heart."

Connor pulled up to Hank's driveway and put his hands in his lap. Hank didn't move to get out of the car but rather sat looking at his android partner that he once would have said had no more feelings than a spoon. Eventually, the brunet looked from his hands to his father figure. "What do I do about this? Do I tell her? I'm only getting a fifty percent chance that she will accept the feelings and a smaller percent for if she loves me back. What if she doesn't want to talk to me after this? Do I not tell her and risk the chance of never knowing?"

Hank shook his head, chuckling slightly. "An android who will stare death in the face and not blink an eye but who gets scared at the thought of a damn girl not liking him back. Excuse me as I enjoy the goddamned irony."

Connor didn't find this particularly funny. "I'm being frustrated over not knowing how to approach an unfamiliar situation and your idea is to laugh and mock me?"

Hank's laughter died out. "The only advice I can give you is to grow a pair and confess." With that, he left the car and went inside.

Connor pulled out of the driveway and drove on almost autopilot, his supercomputer in his head allowing him to focus on many things at once. Once he got his thoughts in order, he made a short detour. He pulled up outside the first jewelry store he could find and hurried inside, trying not to take up too much time. Looking around, he went toward the necklace section, waving away the android behind the counter. He didn't want any help with this.

He pulled up outside of her apartment building and was walking up the stairs, hands in his jeans pockets, fingering the box with the gift inside, and hood of the hoodie he'd decided to wear pulled up, covering his LED partially. He knocked on her door and heard the familiar thump of the crutches as she came over.  
The door opened to show her face and Connor's thirium pump seemed to stop for a second before continuing in its steady pace. He smiled at her. "May I come in?"

"You ask that almost every time now. The time's you don't ask, you're normally taking me to work. Are you a vampire or something?" She laughed at her joke, seeming amused by herself.

Connor followed her in, closing the door behind him as he quickly looked up vampire lore, finding the part she was referencing and laughing with her. "No, I'm not a vampire, merely a polite android."

They sat on the couch, Sara immediately snuggling deeper and Connor trying to keep breathing evenly as he was enveloped in her scent and feel. He was about to speak up about that certain subject but she asked him what he wanted to watch and he forced himself to wait. The whole night went by without him finding a good time to talk to her about it. However, just as he was about to go home to Hank, she spoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank wasn't meant to talk so much in this but he decided to have most of the chapter, oops. I feel like I've done this a disservice by writing the romance so bad. I promise that it wasn't an afterthought, nor was it stuck in there simply to be there. It was planned from the beginning, I'm just terrible at writing slow burn. That's why most of the early development of the relationship is done in parts that the reader doesn't see. I may go back in and do some one shots for the parts that wouldn't fit in the story, if you guys want.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Putting in links is harder than it looks. I had fun with the chapter, though. (Even if my internet is being mean to me at the moment.) But now we're here, three chapters from the end. It's gonna be sad to see it go, but we've still got the sequel to deal with as well as any one shots and endings in here. If you want to give me any prompts or suggestions for one shots or even stories, I'd be glad to take them.

It was when Connor was leaving that night that Sara knew she had messed up. She was standing next to the door as he was leaving when she said it, something she hadn't meant to say. "Love you, night." It had been said so casually and had just slipped out, as if it were the most obvious thing to say as he was leaving. She froze, wondering if he had caught it. He did. He paused and turned back, tilting his head while his LED spun yellow, a sign that he was thinking.

"Would you please repeat that?" His voice was just as calm as hers had been.

This time it came out a bit more shaky but meant no less for she did mean it. "I love you." After a pause she added. "Good night?" Her eyebrows followed the lilt of her voice, moving up at the end of the statement and turning it into a question.

His head shook just the slightest bit as he moved his body to stand directly in front of her, closing the door with one hand while the other stayed by his side, hovering next to his pocket. "You don't know how much I've wanted to hear that from you."

Sara's breath escaped her as the hand that had just closed the door came up to rest by her head, followed by his forearm while his other hand stayed where it was, giving her a direction of escape should she choose to take it. She didn't. His head leaned forward but stopped just before their lips met, a question in his eyes. She answered it by moving her head forward to connect her lips with his, soon moving back again but taking his with it.

It was like nothing Sara had ever felt before and she easily lost herself in it. It was nice to be kissed by Connor, was one of her few conscious thoughts at the moment. His idle hand came up to curve around her waist, holding her in place. Both her hands came up to curl around his neck and draw him closer. She now knew why the heroines of the book put their arms around their man like this as her healing ankle and thigh almost gave out, causing her to put a bit of pressure on her arms and hold herself up with her connection to him and the wall.

She had no idea how much time had passed and didn't particularly care. Kissing Connor was everything she had dreamed it would be and more. He was slow and obviously inexperienced but seemed to get better the longer they kissed. It was made all the sweeter by his slowness. Eventually, she needed to breath and had to break the kiss, moving her head to nuzzle into his neck, breathing hard.

Connor took a step back, his arm still around her waist as he moved the other to join it. Sara followed as they started a slow, almost dance-like movement back into the room. Connor didn't let Sara fall and eventually they managed to make it to her couch, both sitting next to the other. Sara snuggled closer, unwilling to let him go.

After a few minutes of silence, Connor spoke. "What happens now?"

Sara raised her head from his shoulder to look him in the eye. "What do you want to happen now?" She asked.

He shook his head, one hand coming up to play with her hair as the other pulled her leg onto his lap, thumb stroking the edge of the stab wound. "I don't know. I've never felt like this before. Now that I know you feel the same, I don't know what to do. I'm scared but happy and yet I have a calm in me that feels good but foreign."

She nodded. "I say we take it one step at a time, as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"That seems best." He laid his head on top of hers and they just sat there for a few minutes, soaking in the feeling of loving and being loved.

After a while, Connor broke the comfortable silence. "I have something for you."

Sara sat up a bit, careful not to jostle her wounds too much. "Oh?"

He chuckled as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a simple white box about the length of his index finger. He handed it to Sara, who took it with bated breath. Slowly, she opened the box, unsure what was inside until the lid was completely off. Nestled inside the pad of cotton, was a necklace. A [crescent moon](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61O-F3V4-FL._SX425_.jpg) was hanging from the chain, both silver. Hanging from the inside tip of the moon was a [blue heart](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71pDCzXi6hL._UY500_.jpg) that looked like a piece of circuit board. It was beautiful in it's simplicity.

She looked up at Connor, slightly awestruck. "This is gorgeous."

He smiled, a hand rasing to rub the back of his neck. "I'm glad you like it." He hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat before his hand came down from his neck and was held out to her. "Would you like me to help you put it on?"

She nodded, moving her hair out of the way. He took the necklace from the box and cautiously leaned toward her, trying to be as gentle as possible. Sara felt his cool fingers brush her neck as the moved to join the clasp behind her. He leaned back as he finished, breathing out a gentle sigh. "I need to get back to Hank but I don't want to move."

"Me neither." Even as she said it, she slowly moved her leg off his lap, being careful of her wound that was almost healed. Connor ran his hand through her hair and down her back one last time before standing up. He stood there for a second before moving down to kiss Sara again before she knew what was going on. She pulled him back down by the hoodie before he could straighten all the way up and kissed him again. This went on for a while longer until Connor was able to pull away, both laughing and her out of breath.

"You need to go to sleep." He said as he took a step away.

Sara looked amused. "How can you expect me sleep after that?!" She exclaimed.

Connor chuckled. "Well, I need to go and I'm not sure if Hank would like it very much if I tried to bring you with me to work. Besides, we are so close to finding the person who hurt you and I can't have you distracting me at work."

"How would I be distracting?"

"You would be too tired to function, the other officers really don't need to have you wondering the precinct with your insatiable curiosity, but most importantly," here he leaned in with a hand on either side of her until their noses were almost touching, "I have a strong feeling that I will be unable to focus on anything other than you if you were to be there."

Sara blushed. "Alright." She said but almost kicked herself afterward for such a stupid response. Really, though, what else was she to say to something like that?

Connor gave her a final kiss on her forehead before walking to the door, giving her one final look and a soft smile before leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun one to write, I think it really flowed together. It's one of my favorites (but I'm also a hopeless romantic so I'm biased). This has been in my head for a while and it feels really good to get it out in the story. I hope you have enjoyed the story as much as I have!


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing should, sadly, be finished by the end of next week. I'm sad to see it go but at the same time not because I also have a sequel for this as well as another story set in this same universe if people want it. I'll figure out a good sales pitch for it by next update so watch out for that.

Connor straightened his tie as he walked up the stairs. He was nervous for some reason, even though there was nothing to be nervous about. It was an interesting feeling, being nervous. He knocked on Sara's door and waited. This time it was not running footsteps of socked feet, nor the measured click of crutches, but a slow advance that told him he had probably woken her up. He smiled at the thought as the door opened to reveal the young scientist rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry for being a bit early." He said.

Her eyes finally focused on his face and a smile came to hers before her brown orbs trailed over his frame, taking in his clothes. She seemed to be reading the serial number on his jacket. He looked down and smoothed out the tie. "It was the only clean thing I had." He tried to explain. "Hank and I didn't have time for laundry this week." He let out a laugh.

Sara shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed. "It's not that. I get not wanting to do laundry." She moved aside, holding the door open in a silent request for him to come in. He entered, but stopped next to her to give her a brief kiss to the forehead.

He moved a bit farther into the space before turning to Sara. "Then what is it that caused your eyes to get a faraway look when you saw my jacket. Is there something wrong with it?"

She shook her head. "No, no. It's just- oh, gosh." She took a few steps in the direction of her bedroom before looking back at Connor. "Stay here for a second, alright?"

He took the jacket off and threw it over the arm of the couch before sitting on the same piece of furniture. He sat calmly, content to wait. His ears were able to pick up Sara moving things around and muttering to herself. Something heavy was moved from it's place before she exclaimed in triumph and the object was placed back with a crash. She came back in with a smile and slight limp. Connor stood and met her halfway into the room.

"How are you feeling? Have you eaten anything yet?" He knew he had woken her up when he arrived but he didn't know if she had been up before that or not.

"My thigh has been acting up a bit." She answered as she moved past Connor to her TV. "As for food, no. I just woke up for the day when you came in."

Connor hummed noncommittally. "You continue with that, I'll make you some food." He was moving toward the kitchen before she could protest. "Is there anything specific you want?" He asked as he crossed the threshold, noting the still broken window.

"No, nothing in particular. I'm not really hungry right now so maybe something small."

Connor found some yogurt and granola and mixed them together, bringing that out with a spoon to see that Sara had set up something that seemed to be a home video on the screen. "What's this?" He asked, handing the meal to her.

She took a deep breath before speaking. "Something that will explain everything, I think." She pressed play and took a bite at the same time.

Connor watched as a young Sara appeared in the camera's view. He smiled at the sight. However, the smile quickly turned into a frown as she spoke, which deepened when he saw the object of her words. His confusion persisted throughout the video, even as he saw his own startup sequence happen and heard his own voice, if damaged, filter through the audio. They watched all of the videos, silently observing as the damaged Connor spoke of a woman being attacked and kidnapped. The Connor in the present reached out to pull Sara to his side, holding her close as the videos went on. They saw as Connor deteriorated and eventually wouldn't start up anymore and Sara's tears as she called someone named Eli to come help. The next video seemed to be a few years later as the next time they saw Sara was as a young teen helping the same Eli with something. They watched the camera reveal what would become the first Chloe model and the discovery of Thiruim 310.

When the screen went black, neither said anything for a few minutes. Sara was trying to finish her breakfast while Connor was trying to make sense of what had just happened. He looked at Sara, curled up against him. "Where did this come from?" He asked hesitantly.

"The year 2019, when I was only nine years old. Then again in 2022 at the age of twelve for me and twenty for Eli."

Connor's processors were working quickly, his LED a permanent yellow. "This is the reason you were targeted." He muttered.

Sara nodded. "I think so. It makes sense, though, doesn't it?"

"Yes, that's the part that scares me." After another second of thought, he spoke again. "This means that there might be more events that lead up to this." His hand waved at the television screen.

"Yes, unfortunately." She snuggled deeper into his arms, her head pressed to his shoulder. Being as gentle as he could, Connor lifted and placed her in his lap.

Her legs were still curled by her side and her arms moved from just hanging there to clinging to him, her cheek against his chest. Connor's arms held her in place, comforting her as well as himself.

Suddenly, Sara giggled. Connor looked down at her. "What's so funny in this situation, huh?" He asked, not truly seeing any humor in it.

"I can hear your thirium pump working. It sounds like a real heartbeat." Her voice was soft, but a note of happiness found its way into it that caused him to smile.

"I'm glad you are so easily amused." His LED moved from the calm blue that had reappeared at her giggle to a yellow as he got a call from Hank. "Yes, Lieutenant?" He said, not moving from his position.

Sara looked up at him, her eyes finding his LED before her head went back down and she closed her eyes. Connor ran a hand through her hair as he listened to his partner speak. "We've got a situation down at Central Park."

"What kind? Is it a deviant?" Almost all androids were deviant now but the rogue ones who took up a life of crime were still referred to as deviant to avoid confusion.

"That's just it, kid. It's not."

"Is it...?" His voice trailed off as he couldn't bring himself to accept that they could be so close to finally bringing in the person who had hurt Sara.

"It definitely looks like that TR something that broke in. He's even limping slightly with the leg that Sara says she stabbed." There was a second of silence before what sounded like muffled yelling came from Hank's side of the connection. "What does it look like I'm doing, goddammit!? I'm talking with my partner about this piece of shit on the street!" His voice came on again and spoke to Connor. "Sorry 'bout that, kid. Anyways, we really need you down here."  
Connor thought about it for a second, considering all the new information that he had just gotten from Sara. "Am I allowed to bring her?"

Hank didn't need to be told who _her_ was. "Fine. As long as she stays out of the way and doesn't touch anything!"

Connor chuckled. "Now, that's asking for too much. Her curiosity is greater than mine at times."

Hank swore on the line. "Just get your plastic ass down here, would ya?" Just as he was hanging up, Connor heard him mutter, "fucking android."

Connor smiled as his hand stilled halfway through Sara's hair. He looked down to see her already looking at him. "Would you like to come to work with me?" He asked playfully.

She smiled back. "Sure, why not." She never truly expected the day to end the way it did as she went to get dressed for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the pieces are falling into place now!! The story is coming to a close. I really love these characters and don't want to let them go. So, I'll probably doing a lot of oneshots for it. I'm probably going to be making two different books of oneshots. One, included in the Book of Endings, the other as a seperate one of after the sequel. If anyone has any ideas for oneshots, feel free to leave them in the comments. I can't promise I'll use them, but I'll at least read it and give it a chance. Fun Fact: the thing that Sara dropped was a box sitting on top of the box that had the drive in it.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter. The last is the ending and all the others. Thank you so much to everyone who has been here since the start of the fic. It really means a lot to me that people have taken the time to read this and like it. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sara waited as Connor opened the car door for her, closing it behind her as she stepped out. They walked hand in hand to the van that Connor told her was where the SWAT team was as well as his partner, Lieutenant Anderson. She watched as the android tossed the car keys to the grizzled police officer. "Sorry, for borrowing your car again, Hank." He said.

Hank just scowled and waved them over. They moved over to him and the man who was directing the SWAT team from beside him. Connor introduced him as Captain Allen. Looking out to the street, she was able to see an android pacing in the center of the street. She tugged on Connor's jacket sleeve to get his attention. "That's him." She said as she pointed.

"The android who attacked you?"

"And who did most of the..." Her voice trailed off but Connor obviously read between the lines as his eyes darkened with something Sara didn't want to try to name.

He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. "You'll be alright, he can't hurt you now. I'll protect you, I promise." She smiled as she returned his hug, grateful for him being there.

Hank's voice came from behind them. "Would you two cut that shit out? Connor, get your ass over here!"

Connor pulled out of the hug and lead Sara over to a chair. "If I told you to stay, would you listen?"

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere near that thing."

He nodded in satisfaction before walking away. Tina Chen came over from where she had been talking to someone in a hoodie. She smiled as she approached. "Hey, how's it going? Last I saw you was when you were kidnapped."

Sara smiled, a slight blush coming over her cheeks. "I recovered well enough, Connor being there every step of the way. I still can't reach above shoulder height with my right arm and my thigh hurts sometimes but other than that I'm fully recovered. Thank you for asking."

"That still doesn't explain the blush. What's going on with that?"

Her blush deepened. "We're kind of . . . dating now."

Tina's smile took up her whole face as she wrapped one arm around her. "I'm happy for you! This is great!" Someone called her name and she turned back to Sara. "Sorry, duty calls." Sara waved as she left.

Connor came back over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Whatever happens today, promise me you won't try to intervene?"

She looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We both know that you can be extremely brave when you want to be. I'm just asking you not to get in anyone's way by trying to help. I can do my job, but I need to know that you're safe so I can do it." There was something in his eyes that he wasn't telling her. She didn't know if she wanted to know what it was or not.

Sara nodded. "Of course. I'll stay out of the way."

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple before moving away, toward the android in the street. She couldn't see his face but she knew that Connor was back in work mode. His back was straighter than normal and his shoulders were set. Sara's hands came up to play with the chain of her necklace as he came within speaking distance of the android.

"Model 317 570 328, no registered name." He called it out in a clear, calm voice, almost as if he truly didn't care. It sounded mechanical, more like what predeviant Connor must have sounded like. "You are charged with breaking and entering, assault, and kiddnapping. You've been deemed defective and will be sent back to Cyberlife for deactivation."

The other android didn't even flinch, nor did he in any way acknowledge that he had heard him. Connor didn't bother to repeat himself and moved in to arrest him, raising a hand that Sara just now noticed held handcuffs. The android seemed to be studying a window in the upper levels of one of the buildings as Connor approached. When he got close enough to touch, the android sprang into action. A massive black hole appeared as he pushed Connor away and ran for it. Connor was falling straight for it. Sara ran as fast as she could, she had been out of the chair and sprinting across the square as soon as Connor had been pushed. Her ankle and thigh were screaming at her but she pushed herself to get to Connor in time . . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter I mentioned that I have an idea for another story. I've already started it (got about the first few chapters done) and was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading it.
> 
> Here's part of the summary for it: There are two nights a year when the universes align, during this time, people have to be careful. If they are not, they could inadvertantly cross from one universe to the other and not realize this. If that happens, then the same circumstances must once again occur to send them back.
> 
> Again, this will probably not be posted until the sequel is over (giving me time to work on this). I just wanted feedback to see if anyone is interested in this. It'll basically be a reverse au meets canon thing.


	16. Finale

Sara ran at Connor with everything she had but it wasn't enough. She tripped as she was still a few feet away from him, crashing to the ground helplessly as she watched Connor fall into the black hole. His face seemed to be at peace as he went in, his eyes closed and a small smile on his face. She didn't know what to make of that but she did know that she had just lost someone she had grown to love.

Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to get up, her wrist protesting her weight and her thigh screaming at the movement. Her vision blurred, the woman stumbled her way back to the SWAT van, not noticing Hank running past her to cuff the TR400 who still stood there. She made it back and barely managed to sit in the chair she had occupied just a few minutes ago. She was dazed, not truly believing what just happened.

Connor was gone. Her head reeled as she tried to process that thought. The tears spilled over and fell down her cheeks as her thoughts continued that thought. To never again feel his hand holding hers, never again to see him holding the door open with a smile, to never have his arms come around her in a hug or snuggle on the couch. That was more than she could bear. Her next thought dried her eyes a bit, causing the tears to stop. She wiped her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve, sitting up a bit straighter. She wasn't going to let him disappear forever. She was going to get him back.

◉ ◉ ◉

Sorry that this one was really short. I wanted it to be longer but it felt like a good place to stop it so here we are. To make it up to you guys, here's a picture of [Sara](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/05/4e/2c/054e2cbca146b11161956dfd3b418cec.jpg).

This is just a reference pic of what I thought of when I created her. I like to have these kinds of pictures to remind myself of what my OCs look like.  
Anyways, of you enjoyed (or hated) this ending, I have more for you to read, just keep going in the series. That's a book that is pretty self-explanatory. Next week, I'll upload the first chapter of the sequel, Fated. I hope everyone who's read this book will also read that one. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be like a "found footage" kind of thing but I think it flopped slightly. Don't worry, the rest of the chapters won't be like this one. This is more of a background for everything else that's going to happen. I hope you enjoyed it at least!!


End file.
